Join us –
From Waste to Resource:
Nanoplastics, Circular Chemistry, and Microanalysis
Chair: Peter Wobrauschek, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Michael Fischlschweiger Clausthal University of Technology, Germany
“Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries – Engineering Artificial Minerals as a Promising Approach”
Professor Michael Fischlschweiger is a researcher and currently serves as Professor of Technical Thermodynamics and Energy-Efficient Material Treatment at Clausthal University of Technology in Germany. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Polymer Engineering and Science, as well as a PhD in Materials Mechanics and Numerical Mathematics from the University of Leoben, Austria. His doctoral research was conducted jointly at the Centre des Matériaux (MINES ParisTech) and the University of Leoben. Additionally, he earned a PhD in Thermodynamics from the Technical University of Berlin.
His work spans both fundamental and applied research, with a particular focus on the thermodynamics of materials. He specializes in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical field theory, exploring how these core principles can be applied to engineering systems.
In applied research, Professor Fischlschweiger has made several contributions to the crystallization of minerals and polymers, energy conversions in materials, and the kinetics of phase transitions. His research also includes the simulation and intensification of recycling processes for both artificial minerals and polymers. In the past, his work has expanded to the engineering of artificial minerals in the context of lithium-ion battery recycling, exploring innovative approaches to material design and sustainability.
Florian MeirerUtrecht University, The Netherlands
“Detecting Nanoplastics – Challenges for Environmental Analysis”
Florian Meirer received his PhD in technical physics in 2008 from the Vienna University of Technology. He then moved to the US to take up a postdoctoral Erwin Schrödinger fellowship at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. After a postdoctoral stay in Italy (FBK, Trento; Marie Curie fellowship), he joined the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group at Utrecht University in 2013 as Assistant Professor. He obtained a VIDI grant in 2016, became tenured in 2017, was promoted to associate professor in 2020, and was granted ius promovendi in 2021. His past and current research focuses on the development and application of 2D and 3D spectro-microscopic techniques and related chemometrics for obtaining insights about nanoscale processes, covering materials ranging from functional materials to agents in the environment, such as nanoplastics, and objects of art.
Stefan VogtArgonne National Laboratory, USA
“The Upgraded APS – Status, Early Results, and Emerging Opportunities”
Stefan Vogt is Associate Division Director in the X-ray Science Division at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
He has been an influential driver in developing X-ray microscopy, and his key interests lie in hard X-ray microscopy with a focus on methods development as well as the role of trace metals in biology and life sciences and application of X-ray techniques to microelectronics.
He has led advances in synchrotron-based X-ray microscopy and X-ray fluorescence element mapping, developing hardware and software tools that have enabled high-impact studies of trace metals in biological systems. He has also been active in applying these techniques across disciplines in collaborative research. More recently, his efforts have turned toward lensless 3D imaging, particularly for the visualization of integrated circuits.
Stefan received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Göttingen in 2001 and holds an M.A. in Physics from Stony Brook University.