ECoMaTech will cover the following topics:

Waste and pollution treatment

Water and air purification
Waste treatment
Recycling
Nuclear waste management

Chairs : Gregor Zupancic (Inst. for Environ. Protection and Sensors, SLO)

New cooling technologies

Thermoelectric materials
Solar cooling
Electro-and magneto-calorics
Sorption cooling

Chairs : Karl Sandeman (Imperial College London, UK)
           Matjaz Valant (University of Nova Gorica, SLO)

Technologies for energy conversion

Solar-to-power conversion
Photocatalysis / water splitting
Wind-to-power conversion
Geothermal
Fuel cells

Chairs : Maurizio Fermeglia (University of Trieste, IT)
          Renzo Rosei (Nanotechnology for Energy Lab, Area Science Park, IT)

Energy storage and distribution technologies

Electrochemical energy storage
Thermochemical energy storage
Hydrogen economy
Smart grids
Sustainable transportation

Chairs : Miran Gaberscek (National Chemical Institute, SLO)
             Zoran Mandic (University of Zagreb, Croatia)

Environmental impact

Energy saving
Solar and wind power smart integration solutions
Environmental impact assessment
Environmental monitoring
Environmental remediation

Chairs : Julia Burnet (University of Nova Gorica, SLO)
            Jure Leben (Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment, SLO)

Three mini-symposiums will complement the scientific offer of the conference:

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  Mini-symposium on surface science in environmental research

Chairs: Andrea Goldoni (Elettra-Sincrotrone, Italy)
           Mattia Fanetti (University of Nova Gorica, SLO)

The connections between surface science and the conference topics are many: thin film semiconductors (energy conversion), catalysis (waste and pollution treatment, energy conversion) and novel smart material (energy storage) are some examples. The aim of this symposium is to highlight the contribution that surface science community can offer to environmental and sustainable growth issues.

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  Mini-symposium on FEL and Synchrotron based techniques

Chairs: Iztok Arcon (University of Nova Gorica, SLO)
           Maya Kiskinova  (Elettra-Sincrotrone, Italy)

Aim of the mini-symposium is to present the unique opportunities available at synchrotron and free electron laser facilities for exploring the structure and transient states of condensed matter, soft matter and low-density matter using a variety of spectroscopy, diffraction, and scattering techniques. The symposium will focus on fundamental and applied problems, whose solution should lead to the development of new systems with unique physicochemical properties in the field of materials and technologies for sustainable growth.

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  Mini-symposium on Operando methods in energy research

Chairs: Roel van de Krol (Helmholtz Zentrum, Germany)
           Fernando Fresno Garcia (University of Nova Gorica, SLO)

Operando spectroscopy is a methodology that combines the spectroscopic characterisation of a catalytic material during the reaction with the simultaneous measurement of the actual performance of the catalyst, e.g. conversion and selectivity. It is the simultaneity of spectroscopic study and kinetically relevant activity measurement that makes operando a step beyond in situ characterisation. This mini-symposium is intended to gather researchers working with operando spectroscopy applied to different catalytic reactions and catalysts, with a view towards energy and environment, that is, towards sustainable growth.