Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the Department of Chemistry is the 2025 winner of the Purvis Memorial Award, announced the Society of Canadian Industry (SCI) on March 13th.
The award is presented to an individual for “significant strategy development and successful implementation within the Canadian chemical Industry,” according to the SCI website.
Ozin said the award recognizes his group’s research over the past decade, which has been focused on development and implementation of engineered photocatalyst and photoreactor architectures. These are designed to harvest light for efficient, selective conversion of small abundant molecules into sustainable chemicals and fuels.
“I am a materials chemist and a self-confessed ‘closet engineer’,” he said.
Ozin established the Solar Fuels Group at UofT, spearheading its efforts to develop gas-phase heterogeneous photocatalysis science and technology to bring down the energy, economic and environmental costs involved in gas-phase heterogeneous thermal catalysis. The dominant technology practiced in the chemical and petrochemical industries for making most of today’s commodity chemicals and fuels, gas-phase heterogeneous thermal catalysis frequently involves using fossil fuels both as feedstock for synthesizing important industrial molecules—carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and methanol, to name a few examples—and for heating the feedstock to facilitate conversion to products.
Other recent Ozin Group work is a paper presenting an alternative pathway for selective conversion of ethane to ethylene. The solar-driven catalytic process featured in the paper offers an environmentally friendly route for ethylene and hydrogen production, again using renewable energy for power and ethane in natural gas as a feedstock.
“The all-Canadian photocatalysis science-to-technology we have developed is on par with that of solar thermal, electrochemistry, plasma and biomass processes for the production of sustainable commodity chemicals and fuels.” Asked whether the process could become competitive with electrified thermal process, Ozin added. “Time will tell.”
Prof. Ozin acknowledged the support of his students as well as Canadian Government and Industry sponsors, notably NSERC Discovery, Canada Research Chairs, Connaught Challenge Award, Ministry of Research and Innovation, and most recently Hydrofuel Canada Incorporated.
“The key to success in this globally competitive and fast-moving field has been my highly talented students. Their human intelligence and experiential learning expertise crisscrosses the boundaries of experimental, theoretical and computational materials chemistry science, as well as engineering disciplines.”
Prof. Ozin will receive his award at the SCI Canada Awards Dinner 2025, to be held on April 30 at the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, where key members of the chemical and industrial community will celebrate the achievements of both the SCI Canada Award Winners and Student Merit Award Winners.
Related Links:
SCI Announcement 2025 Purvis Memorial Award
Ozin Group postdoctoral fellow featured in Behind the Paper at Nature Energy