Month: March 2016

An innovative process developed at the Technion presents unprecedented perfect efficiency in producing hydrogen from water using solar energy

The scientific journal Nano Letters has recently reported a significant breakthrough in the field of hydrogen fuel production. A major discovery occurred at the laboratory of Assistant Professor Lilac Amirav of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion, demonstrating a perfect 100% light-to-hydrogen gas conversion efficiency through solar water splitting. The research was conducted in the framework of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) and the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP).

The search for environmentally clean and renewable energy sources is indispensable in face of a looming energy crisis, and environmental problems such as global warming. One promising approach to address these challenges is the use of photocatalytic systems, which harvest sunlight and split water, producing molecular oxygen and hydrogen.

Both sunlight and water are abundant and free of the political and economic vulnerabilities that characterize the traditional energy market. Hydrogen can be stored and utilized as a transportable fuel, to cope with the intermittent character of solar radiation. Unlike fossil fuels (oil, coal, or natural gas), hydrogen is a pollution-free source of energy. This direct solar-to-fuel energy conversion alleviates the energy storage problem, since fuel (chemical energy) can be stored more easily than either electricity or heat.

The photocatalytic system absorbs light and converts the solar energy into positive and negative electric charges, which then promote the chemical reactions that split water. Yet there are many constraints that hinder the development of efficient and practical technology. There are strict material-related requirements, starting from appropriate light absorption, through the nature of the electric charges that can be generated, and finally stability and price. Other challenges relate to the process itself. Loss of the electric charges due to unwanted reactions or recombination will lead to low efficiency. Hence, after four decades of global research, systems that are sufficiently stable and efficient for practical use have not yet been realized.

The researchers, Dr. Philip Kalisman, Dr. Yifat Nakibli, and Asst. Professor Lilac Amirav of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion have set a record for one of the half-reactions in this process, reporting 100% efficiency for the reaction that utilize the negative charges for the production of hydrogen from water. These results shatter all previous benchmark conventions for all systems, and leave little to no room for improvement for this particular half reaction. The impressive efficiency was achieved through utilization of a unique nanoparticle photocatalysts, operating in basic environment.

The system developed consists of two semiconductors, a tiny spherical nano size particle (quantum dot) of a singular material, embedded within a second material that is rod-shaped, with a platinum particle at its tip. The quantum dot attracts the positive charges, while the negative charges (electrons) accumulate on the platinum tip. The physical separation between these charges is the key to the success of the system. The electrons are responsible for the chemistry – the reaction that produces hydrogen from water. Every two photons form a hydrogen molecule without any losses – a target that has previously been thought of as impossible to attain. With a perfect conversion of all the absorbed light to hydrogen, a single photocatalyst nanoparticle can produce 360,000 molecules of hydrogen per hour. This is the highest achieved efficiency ever to be reported.

The Technion holds the first conference for outstanding female high school students from all over Israel “Tech Women 2016”, attended by 670 high school students, is designed to encourage female students to pursue higher education in science or engineering

“When I was in high school I really didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but one day the penny dropped and I realized that I wanted to be an engineer.  That’s because engineers are people who look for solutions to problems: they design and streamline things and help the world advance. This is what paved the way that led me here, to the Technion.”

These statements were made by Naama Koifman, a doctoral student in the Nanotechnology and Nanoscience track at the Technion’s Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, who hosted the opening plenary session of Tech Women 2016 on Wednesday, March 2, 2016.

Held courtesy of the Rosalyn August Girls Empowerment (GEM) Initiative, This was the first event of its kind, intended to encourage outstanding female high school students to pursue higher education in science and engineering. The conference was held in honor of International Women’s Day, which will be celebrated next week in Israel and around the world.

The 670 students who participated in the conference are all studying advanced-level mathematics, science and technology for their matriculation exams. They met with female researchers and faculty members, Technion alumnae and female graduate students. The students toured the laboratories and learned about the research topics and subject matter at five faculties: Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Speaking in advance of the event, Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie said: “The first class at the Technion, which opened in 1924, was attended by 16 boys and one girl. Today, the percentage of women among undergraduate students at the Technion is 37%, and our goal is to reach 50% in all faculties. This special day was designed to convince female students that they belong here at the Technion and that they can do it. Our future in the State of Israel is based on engineering and scientific knowledge, and we look forward to seeing these students in a few years at the academic school year opening ceremony.”

Speaking at the opening of the event, Dean of Undergraduate Studies Prof. Yachin Cohen said: “There are over 5,000 female students at the Technion, and 32% of the master’s degree students and 44% of doctoral students at the Technion are women. Unfortunately, the number of female faculty members at the Technion is still low and we must improve in this respect.”

Addressing the students, Prof. Daniella Raveh, member of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, said: “I really love airplanes. They are my occupation and my hobby. I am fortunate in being able to do what I love and I also have a pilot’s license. Aeronautics is a field that’s suitable for men and women alike, and any good engineer who graduates from the faculty is guaranteed employment in the field.”

Assistant Prof. Yael Yaniv from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, who has three degrees from the Technion, told the students: “I attended Municipal High School No. 5 in Haifa. I was very happy when they opened a math program, but on the first day I found out that I was the only girl and I wanted to quit. Fortunately for me, my mother didn’t let me give up, and in ninth grade I started studying at the Technion Faculty of Electrical Engineering – because people told me it was the toughest school of all. Today, as a member of the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, I know that anyone can do whatever he or she wants, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman. Here at the Technion you can make any dream come true.”

Sarai Duek, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Computer Science, told the students: “Today, after earning two degrees at the Technion and half-way through my doctorate, I can tell you: the Technion is hard, but here you become better and stronger, you meet amazing people and, of course, you get to study at the best place there is.”

2015 Winner of the Dickson Prize in Science donates a portion of the prize money to the Technion

Technion alumnus, Prof. Judea Pearl, whose pioneering research efforts led to the development of knowledge representation and reasoning tools in computer science, received the prestigious award from Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S.

Professor Judea Pearl, a Technion alumnus, who was awarded the 2011 Harvey Prize from the Technion, received the 2015 Dickson Prize in Science on February 29th. The Dickson prize, which includes a medal as well as a monetary award of $50,000, is given each year by Carnegie Mellon University to Americans who have made an outstanding significant contribution to science. Prof. Pearl announced that he will be donating a portion of the prize money to the Technion, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree.

Upon completing his BSc at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion, Pearl went on to pursue his Master’s degree in physics at Rutgers University and a PhD in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. In 1970 he became a faculty member at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). He currently directs the university’s Cognitive Systems Laboratory and heads the research in artificial intelligence, human cognition and philosophy of science. His work on reasoning and uncertainty laid the groundwork in computerized systems, with far-reaching applications in a wide range of fields, namely: security, medicine, genetics and language understanding. Prof. Pearl is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Technion Faculty of Computer Science.

Prof. Pearl, one of the foremost leaders in the field of artificial intelligence, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, a founding fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering). He also serves as the President of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, named after his son, who was working as a journalist in Pakistan in 2002 when he was kidnaped and murdered by Pakistani terrorists.

In 2011 Pearl received the A.M. Turing Award, considered the ‘Nobel Prize of computing,’ and then the Harvey Prize bestowed by the Technion in recognition of significant contributions in the advancement of humankind in the areas of science and technology, human health and peace in the Middle East. The Harvey Prize was awarded to Judea Pearl, “In recognition for his pioneering research efforts which serves as a foundation for knowledge representation and reasoning in computer science and has profoundly influenced modern life. His Bayesian network, which mimics the activities of the human brain, has had a profound influence on diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, statistics, philosophy, health, economics and cognitive sciences. The Harvey Prize in Science and Technology is awarded to Professor Pearl in recognition of the inherent breakthroughs of his research and their impact on such a wide variety of aspects in our lives.”

The Dickson Prize was established in 1969 through the philanthropy of the late Dr. Joseph Z. Dickson and his wife Agnes Fisher Dickson. It was awarded to Prof. Judea Pearl on February 29, 2016 in a festive ceremony at Carnegie Mellon (CMU), at which time he gave a lecture on the topic of “Science, Counterfactuals and Free Will.”

The Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education has been awarded for the fifth consecutive time through a substantial donation towards the promotion of academic education at the Technion, “In appreciation of faculty members, who set an example through their endless contributions to teaching and learning and for their efforts to improve student involvement and sense of belonging to the Technion.”

The eleven faculty members awarded the prestigious Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education are: ·

• Professor Joseph Avron, from the Faculty of Physics · Associate Professor Ran El-Yaniv, from the Faculty of Computer Science ·
• Associate Professor Shlomo Bekhor, from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering ·
• Professor Joseph Ben-Asher, from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering ·
• Assistant Professor Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, from the Faculty of Education in Technology and Science ·
• Assistant Professor Moran Bercovici, from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering ·
• Associate Professor Mark Talesnick, from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering ·
• Professor Daniel Lewin, from the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering ·
• Professor Ilan Marek, from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry ·
• Professor Ross Pinsky, from the Faculty of Mathematics ·
• Professor Danny Raz, from the Faculty of Computer Science

“Yanai Prize winners are exemplary individuals, and they embody the close ties between research excellence and teaching excellence,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie in his speech at the award ceremony. “The Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education was established in order to improve the quality of teaching at the Technion. A change was apparent from the very first year that it was awarded, and ever since it became a brand synonymous with excellence in teaching.

Technion’s 2016 Yanai Prize award winners are role models; the phrase ‘Yanai Prize winner’ has evolved into a desirable standard for excellence in teaching.” In her speech, Prof. Hagit Attiya, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, said, “Yanai Prize winners are the torchbearer leading the way for others to follow. They are exemplary individuals worthy of imitation. This is the most important and significant award given by the Technion for excellence in teaching, and clearly illustrates and defines the value Technion places on teaching.”

“You don’t view teaching as a burden, but as an opportunity,” said Omar Amit, the Chairman of the Technion’s Student Union (ASAT) at the ceremony. “Studies at the Technion are not easy. Technion students come here to study, not just to pass the time or to please their parents. You understand the power you have in your hands and you give them what they need most – inspiration.”

Moshe Yanai, a global pioneer in the field of information storage, in making his generous contribution, sought to give back to the institute in gratitude for the life skills that he gained during his studies here 40 years ago. Looking back he recalls the years of study at the university had been hard and difficult, and to this end decided together with Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, to contribute 12 million dollars to award lecturers who have demonstrated teaching excellence – a gift that would in turn also greatly benefit Technion students. The prize, which awards 100,000 ILS to each prize winner, will be given over a period of ten years.

In his closing remarks Yanai thanked the Technion for allowing him to meaningfully and effectively contribute to Israeli society. “The Technion helped build the foundations of the State of Israel and has had a tremendous impact on the country’s economic strength; I for one can say that the institute has had a far-reaching influence on my life and I have a lot to be grateful for. It is commonplace that academic institutes rely most on research and publications with teaching taking on a backseat. The significance of this prize is that it places a spotlight on teaching and educating and brings it out to the forefront. Although research and publications are very important, the value of teaching and academic education at the strategic level supersedes them. I would like to thank the Technion President as well as all of the staff members who invested great efforts in turning this dream of mine into a reality. I would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to all of tonight’s award winners who have selflessly placed the interests of the community above their own.”

2015 Yanai Prize for Excellence in Education Award Ceremonies Program