Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar
Guest: Prof. Dr. Katharina Brinkert
Prof. Dr. Katharina Brinkert, University of Bremen and University of Warwick, UK; Director of the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM).
The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to oxygen (O2) was firstly accomplished on Mars in April 2021 by a solid oxide electrolyzer called “MOXIE”, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. The electrolyzer produced 5.37 g O2 from CO2 in ca.1h on the Martian Perseverance Rover - as much as one astronaut breathes in about 10 min. Besides O2, human presence on Mars requires however also carbon-based, organic molecules e.g., fertilizers that are too heavy to carry for exploratory missions of several months to years. One way to accomplish their synthesis is through (photo-)electrocatalysis, where integrated semiconductor-electrocatalyst systems are utilized for light (i.e. sunlight) absorption, charge separation and catalysis in one device. Due to their tunable interface energetics e.g., through alternating the electrolyte composition, a large variety of redox reactions can be realized with photoelectrocatalytic devices - also the simultaneous reduction of dinitrogen (N2) and CO2 to produce the fertilizer urea. Here, (photo-)electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions will be discussed beyond the formation of O2 as a product for the sustainable synthesis of carbon-based molecules on Mars that also show strategies for CO2 recycling on Earth.
Katharina Brinkert is a Professor of Human Space Exploration Technologies at the University of Bremen and Director of the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM). Prior, she was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, UK. Katharina received her Ph.D. degree from Imperial College London and an M.Sc. degree from Uppsala University, Sweden. After her PhD research in natural photosynthesis, she received a research fellowship from the European Space Agency (ESA), where she investigated light-assisted hydrogen production in semiconductor-electrocatalyst systems in microgravity environments for life sustaining applications in space. After that, she held a Leopoldina Postdoctoral Scholarship for her work with Prof. Harry B. Gray at the California Institute of Technology. Her research interests comprise fundamental processes of (photo-)electrochemical water oxidation, CO2 reduction and N2 fixation, including elucidation of reaction mechanisms, interfacial energetics and processes such as gas bubble evolution dynamics.
Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar
The seminar will take place every second Thursday at 2 pm CET/CEST at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) from 2025 during the lecture period.
The invitation for the seminar will be send via email to all registered members of the space-exploration mailing list. You can register for the invitation here.
