Shiv Shankar Wins Best Poster Award
Shiv Shankar, a doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat), has been awarded the Best Poster Award at the Materials Science and Engineering Congress. His winning poster, titled “Hydrogen-based Direct Reduction of Multicomponent Metal Oxide Mixtures,” focuses on sustainable synthesis of porous multicomponent alloys through hydrogen-based direct reduction.
Porous multicomponent alloys are a mixture of four to five metal oxides in equal proportions unlike traditional alloys that typically contain one or two main elements. This allows for the creation of new compositions with exceptional properties, such as increased strength and heat resistance, making them highly valuable for both structural and functional applications. However, the environmental cost of producing metals and alloys is significant, with fossil fuel-based methods accounting for around 40% of industrial CO2 emissions. The co-reduction with hydrogen as a reductant offers a sustainable alternative towards the production of multicomponent porous alloys: “My research specifically investigated the reduction process and its thermodynamics, as this knowledge is key to broader implementation. In light of this I am especially thrilled to receive this award, which highlights the importance of our work with hydrogen to make materials production more sustainable,” says Shankar.
Shankar completed his studies in Metallurgical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and is now pursuing his PhD at MPI-SusMat as part of the EU-funded HAIMan project. The project’s goal is to develop sustainable methods for alloy production using hydrogen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.