Jia Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Umeå University. Her research team, the Green Nanodots Group, studies how abundant and locally available feedstocks can be converted into nanomaterials with desired functionalities. Her team is one of the six affiliated Groups of Excellence at the Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability (WISE) at Umeå University.

Our daily life relies heavily on advanced materials. They enable many of the technologies we use every day, from solar panels and LED lighting to smartphone screens and optical devices. But behind these promising applications also come serious environmental challenges, including resource depletion and the rapidly growing problem of electronic waste.
In this lecture, Jia Wang will present her team’s research on sustainable material innovation, focusing on how biomass such as leaves and plant-based chemicals can be transformed into functional materials on the nanometer scale, and how these materials may serve as greener alternatives in lighting, photonics, and other applications. Through these examples, the lecture will showcase how future materials can combine advanced functionality with reduced environmental impact.