Title: Biomass conversion to nanomaterials for energy storage

Abstract: 

Biomass is a cheap, environmentally friendly, readily available source of carbon. Proper utilization and waste management of this renewable resource is crucial towards the advancement of a country’s agriculture and forestry industry as it is often considered as a by-product from these sectors. Graphene, carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are conventionally fabricated using fossil fuels as they are most in demand due to their characteristics and wondrous applications. This talk will give a brief introduction to utilizing biomass resources for producing nanomaterials via various techniques. It will also provide an insight to the equipment required for obtaining nanomaterials and will also go over various characterization techniques to identify the quality of the obtained nanomaterials. Towards the end of the talk potential applications of nanomaterials for energy storage purposes will also be discussed.

Biography:

Dr. Faisal Mahmood is primarily a Chemical Engineer having a M.Sc. degree in Energy Systems Engineering from NUST. Upon completion of his master’s, he secured a scholarship under the Faculty Development Program (FDP) from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in 2016 and left for USA to pursue higher education.

During his Ph.D. he carried out research on transforming lignin to laser-induced graphene (LIG) for energy storage and electrochemical sensing applications. After completing his Ph.D., he has joined the Department of Energy Systems Engineering at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad as an Assistant Professor.

Currently his research domains range from designing and optimizing renewable energy systems using simulation tools and preparing nanomaterials from various carbon-based substrates for multi-dimensional applications.