At the 9th Symposium on Chemistry and Environmental Protection EnviroChem2023, held from June 4 to 7 in Kladovo, Serbia, Prof. Milica Balaban, PhD held a notable invited lecture entitled “Polymers for Energy Applications: Between Efficiency and Green Chemistry”.

The lecture is dedicated to the new generation of photovoltaic devices, such as organic and hybrid solar cells (OSC, PSC), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), organic field effect transistors (OFET), and flexible and elastic electronic devices, which are based on organic, polymeric semiconductor materials. Besides semiconductors, polymers have other important roles in hybrid solar cells, mainly as additives to control crystal growth and improve device stability.

However, from the environmental aspect, a severe limitation of the broader application of these materials is that their synthesis often requires many steps. At the same time, stoichiometric amounts of toxic metal reagents are also present in photovoltaic devices. As part of the lecture, an overview of alternative sustainable, i.e., “green” ways of synthesizing polymer and other components of hybrid solar cells was given.

During the symposium organized by the Environmental Chemistry Section of the Serbian Chemical Society, researchers, scientists, and experts from various fields of environmental chemistry used the opportunity to exchange ideas, the latest scientific achievements, and technological innovations.

At this year’s symposium, two plenary and four invited lectures were held, 18 oral presentations and more than 60 poster presentations were presented, and two-panel discussions were held on the most current topics in the field of environmental chemistry.