Forum Keynote 4: Shudipto Konika Dishari, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Efficient, Cost-Effective Polymeric Materials Design for Clean Energy and Biomedical Technologies via Biomass Valorization. Addressing technical challenges through cutting-edge materials research is the key to excelling in sustainable, clean energy technologies like fuel cells and electrolyzers.

Current H-fuel cells' major challenges include ion transport limitation (low-temperature), stability (high-temperature), expensive materials, and environmental sustainability. 

To overcome these obstacles, we need to rethink the design of ion-conducting polymers (ionomers) playing the pivotal roles in separators and catalyst layers of these devices.