Professor Erwin Reisner - 2024 Tilden Prize for Chemistry winner

Professor Erwin Reisner FRSC

Winner: 2024 Tilden Prize for Chemistry

University of Cambridge

For pioneering work on solar chemistry, developing devices that capture sunlight and produce sustainable fuels and chemicals from carbon dioxide, biomass and plastic waste.

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I believe that we are now coming close to constructing integrated solar chemistry devices that have real advantages over conventional photovoltaic-electrolyser technologies.

Professor Reisner’s research group works on innovative approaches to create a more sustainable, circular chemical industry. They develop ideas and concepts, prototype devices and emerging technologies for the solar-powered conversion of waste, water and air into sustainable fuels and chemicals. They are currently exploring solar-powered technologies that can upcycle plastics and biomass waste and reuse the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to produce green fuels and chemicals.

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Erwin Reisner received his education and professional training at the University of Vienna (PhD in 2005; Habilitation in 2010), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (postdoc from 2005–2007) and the University of Oxford (postdoc from 2008– 2009).

After a brief stint as an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow at the University of Manchester, he joined the University of Cambridge as University Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and as a Fellow of St John’s College in 2010. He moved up the ranks and became a Reader in 2015 and then Professor of Energy and Sustainability in 2017. In 2024, he was appointed to the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies.

Professor Reisner is an expert in renewable energy technologies and sustainable chemistry, in particular the sunlight-powered production of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals. His cross-disciplinary research into solar chemistry and circular chemical technologies focuses on the capture and utilisation of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as well as the valorisation of plastics and biomass waste to produce green fuels and chemicals for a net zero future.

Q&A

What motivates you?

I am motivated by a supportive work environment and an enjoyable day-to-day routine. I really enjoy the scientific and educational component of my job and try to focus on tasks that are fun, I consider meaningful, or that just seem to be the right thing to do. It's amazing to work with so many different students and scientists from all over the world who are connected via the universal language of chemistry. Seeing them develop and pursuing their careers is very rewarding.

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

I believe that we are now coming close to constructing integrated solar chemistry devices that have real advantages over conventional photovoltaic-electrolyser technologies. Such an achievement would massively accelerate the momentum of our research field as engineers, entrepreneurs and companies would join to explore the opportunities provided by a novel chemical technology.

Why is chemistry important?

I am excited by the central role chemistry will play in moving from a petrochemical to a sustainable chemical industry. While excellent progress has been made in producing renewable electricity, there is a lack of technologies to make sustainable fuels and chemicals. Chemists hold a unique skill set to address this challenge, providing us with the opportunity and responsibility to make decisive contributions to reach global net zero goals.

Why do you think collaboration and teamwork are important in science?

A long-standing strength of my team has been our commitment to collaborative and cross-disciplinary science with chemists, physicists, materials and nano-scientists, chemical biologists, synthetic biologists, engineers and entrepreneurs from all over the world working together in our laboratory. This diverse set of expertise, skill set and approaches has enabled us to come up with novel concepts that have recently resulted in the successful assembly of prototype solar chemistry devices.

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