Peter Ngene an Assistant Professor in the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University, where he also received his PhD in 2012. In a nutshell, Peter’s goal is to develop new materials that will enable the widespread use of energy from renewable and sustainable sources such as wind and solar. The major problem with these energy sources is that they are intermittent, therefore requiring some form of storage. Peter and his team are investigating several options to overcome this challenge. For example, he is developing novel materials that will enable energy to be stored efficiently via hydrogen or ammonia, materials for next generation rechargeable batteries for long driving range electric vehicles, heat storage and catalysts for energy conversion processes.

His work has had a high impact in the field of energy storage using metal hydrides. He was the first to demonstrate that the kinetics of hydrogen release from complex hydrides can be improved significantly by co-confinement with catalysts in nanopores of carbon. He also developed inexpensive eye-readable hydrogen sensors for the diagnosis of lactose intolerance via hydrogen breath test.

Session 1: NEF Fellows Spotlight Session

Session 2: Towards Africa’s Energy Independence

Date:  27 March 2018

Time: 16:00-17:00