Scope

In this edition, the Sitges Conference focused on Energy Conversion: From Nanomachines to Renewable Sources. The general aim of the meeting was to discuss recent advances in the investigation and implementation of energy conversion mechanisms in systems ranging from the nanoscopic to the macroscopic scale. The topics covered by the conference included: nano-machines and their efficiency, molecular motors, biological pumps, fuel cells, biofuels, solar cells, energy optimization problems, climatic effects of the energy conversion and the thermodynamics and statistical mechanics foundations of energy conversion mechanisms. With the organization of this Conference, we intended to stimulate discussions between different scientific communities working in the general fields of physics, chemistry, engineering and biology, about the challenges to face in the area of energy conversion. In this way, we wanted to favor the interchange and cross-fertilization of ideas, and to deepen the understanding of the open questions in the field.

Plenary Speakers

Andresen, B. (University of Copenhagen, Denmark). "Optimization of energy conversion using finite-time thermodynamic"

Astumian, R. D. (University of Maine, USA). "Stochastic Pumping: A mechanism for free energy transduction by molecules"

Bresme, F. (Imperial College, UK). "Computational Studies of Heat transfer in aqueous environments: from bulk to interfaces"

Bunde, A. (University of Giessen, Germany). "Long-term memory in climate: On the estimation of anthropogenic trends in local and global temperature records"

Casati, G. (Università dell'Insubria, IT). "Increasing thermoelectric efficiency: Dynamical models unveil microscopic mechanisms"

Del Cañizo, C. (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain). "Present and future of Photovoltaic Solar Electricity"

Gammaitoni, L. (Wisepower srl - Università di Perugia, IT) . "Noise harvesting with nonlinear oscillators"

Gordon, J. M. (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel). "Concentrator photovoltaics"

Keiski, R. (University of Oulu,Finland). "Hydrogen production from biomass - Catalysis, phenomena integration and sustainability"

Kjelstrup, S. (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway). "Nature-inspired energy and material efficient design of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell"

Lampinen, M. (Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Finland). "Electric dipole theory of ATP-driven molecular motors"

Leitner, D. M. (University of Nevada, Reno, USA). "Photochemical reactions as triggers for energy conversion in proteins"

Lipowsky, R. (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany). "Energy conversion and cargo transport by molecular motors"

Pollack, G. (University of Washington, USA). "E = H2O: The Secret Life of Energy and Water"

Putterman, S. J. (UCLA, USA). "Nonlinear Physics Provides Routes to Nuclear Fusion in Millimeter System"

Sen, A. (Penn State University, USA). "Autonomous Nano/Microscale Motion Through Catalysis"

Vega, L. F. (ICMAB-CSIC & MATGAS 2000, Spain). "Using CO2 at large scale: opportunities and challenges"

Invited Speakers

Bachtold, A. (CIN2, Spain). “NEMSs based on Nanotubes: From Thermal Motors to Resonators”

Gómez-Romero, P. (CIN2, Spain). “From Nanometers to Terawatts. Pending Revolutions in Materials Science”

Grzywna, Z. (Silesian University of Technology, Poland). “Membrane separation as Energy Saving Alternative”

Martorell, J. (ICFO, Spain). “Photonic Control of Organic Photovoltaic cells”

Contributed Talks

Benjamin, R. (German Aerospace Center, Germany). “Stochastic energetics of a Brownian motor and refrigerator driven by non-uniform temperature”

Cao, F. J. (Univ. Complutense de Madrid, Spain). “Thermodynamics of feedback controlled systems”

Nikaein, M. (Azad Islamic University, Iran). “Multi-objective Thermodynamic Optimization of simple gas turbine power plant using exergy analysis by genetic algorithm”

Pérez- Madrid, A. (University of Barcelona, Spain). “Radiative Heat Exchange in Nanostructures"

Posters

Sebastián Bouzat, Fernando Falo. "Transport of cargo by interacting molecular motors"

Sebastián Bouzat. "Inertial effects, mass separation and efficiency in Lévy ratchets"

Anna Alemany. "Fluctuation theorems in small systems"

R. Dauksevicius, G. Kulvietis, V. Ostasevicius, I. Milasauskaite. "Dynamic Analysis of Piezoelectric Micro-harvester for Optimization of Energy Conversion Efficiency"

Petr Chvosta, Viktor Holubec, Artem Ryabov. "Energetics of a heat engine based on an exact work probability calculation"

Anders Lervik, Signe Kjelstrup, Fernando Bresme. "Active Transport of the Na+/K+- and Ca2+-ATPase compared"

M. López-Suárez, G. Murillo, J. Agustí, H. Vocca, L. Gammaitoni, G. Abadal. "Efficient non-linear NEMS based energy harvesting from thermomechanical noise"

P. Malgaretti, I. Pagonabarraga. "Running faster, running together: hydrodynamic coupling of molecular motors"

Marco Ribezzi Crivellari, José Maria Huguet, Nuria Forns, Felix Ritort. "Single beam trapping with Minitweezers"

D.S. Krasnozhon, V.B. Shevchenko. "Synthesizing carbon nanolayers on porous Si surface"

Liliana Teodoros. "Optimal control of simultaneous heating and humidification of air"

The book of abstracts and detailed program of the conference can be downloaded here.

Organizing Committee

• J. Martinez, Secretary (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)

• G. Franzese (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)

• D. Reguera (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)

• J. M. Rubi (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)

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