On January 30, students, researchers, and industry partners gathered at UBC for the half-day seminar “Characterizing the Path to Net-Zero” – a workshop focused on the role of advanced characterization techniques in enabling clean energy and sustainability solutions. The event welcomed approximately 70 in-person attendees, with an additional 10 participants joining virtually via Zoom, representing four Canadian academic institutions and several industry partners. We would like to thank our sponsors who made this event possible – UBC Net0MM-CREATE, Characterization@UBC, and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS).

The workshop opened with welcome remarks from cluster lead Dr. Ben Britton, reminding us the importance and urgency of net-zero targets and emphasized how research, along with local and regional collaboration, can help advance progress in this area. The seminar then featured four invited speakers from four academic institutions, whose work spans materials characterization, electrochemistry, and sustainable energy systems.

Dr. Kiana Amini (UBC Materials Engineering) shared recent progress and insights into electrochemical flow cells for carbon capture and resource recovery. Dr. Drew Higgins (McMaster University, Chemical Engineering) discussed approaches using in-situ microscopy techniques to reveal electrocatalytic processes. Dr. Sami Khan (SFU School of Sustainable Energy Engineering) highlighted interfacial engineering strategies to better understand energy systems. Dr. Jason Lee (University of Victoria, Mechanical Engineering) concluded the seminar by showcasing design approaches and characterization methods for developing ionomer-free electrodes.

In addition to the technical presentations, the event provided opportunities for cross-disciplinary and cross-regional discussion and knowledge exchange among participants from different institutions and industry partners. A series of thoughtful questions after each talk highlighted a strong interest in connecting characterization science with real-world energy challenges.

We sincerely thank our speakers for sharing their expertise and insights, and all attendees for contributing to the success of this workshop.