Daniell Lecture 2025: Professor Darren Walsh - livestream tickets only

Calling all students of Chemistry from GCSE to A Level to university! We’re inviting you to hear from a reseacher at the cutting edge of green energy and electrochemical research Professor Darren Walsh, Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham.

This event is aimed at those aged 16+, but younger students are welcome to attend.

This page is for livestream tickets only. Visit this page to book in-person tickets.

Talk description

From the Daniell Cell, to lithium-ion batteries and beyond: the evolution of high-energy batteries and the prospects for battery-powered flight
Lithium-ion batteries have changed how we communicate, work, are entertained, and even travel around our planet. However, these batteries are too heavy for use in some emerging applications, including in the aviation sector. Such exciting new applications will require scientists to develop new types of battery chemistry that exploits lightweight electrode materials. The most promising of these “beyond lithium-ion” systems are the lithium-sulfur and lithium-air batteries, both of which are being developed in the laboratories of Professor Darren Walsh.

In this lecture, Professor Walsh will describe the operating principles of these new types of batteries and compare them to those of other systems, including the Daniell Cell and lithium-ion batteries. The advantages of these new systems and some of the chemical problems that are hindering their use will be discussed. Professor Walsh will then describe some of the ways in which we are tackling these problems, and whether their use could really lead to world-changing possibility of battery-powered flight.

Event Schedule

16:20 - Livestream opens

16:30-16:40 - Welcome and housekeeping

16:40-17:00 - Research talk, King's PhD student

17:00-18:00 - Professor Darren Walsh talk and Q&A

18:00 - event finishes

About the Speaker

Darren Walsh was born and raised in Dublin Ireland and was awarded his PhD degree from Dublin City University in 2002. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas, Austin, after which he moved to Newcastle University as a Lecturer in Physical Chemistry. In 2007, he moved to the University of Nottingham, where he is currently Professor and Head of Physical Chemistry.

He teaches physical chemistry to undergraduate chemistry students at Nottingham and does research in electrochemistry. He is especially interested in electrochemical energy storage and conversion, including developing next-generation batteries for storing energy, and making new electrocatalysts for splitting water to make H2 as a fuel. A lot of his work is done in collaboration with the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research. He is a member of its Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity working group and is also a training champion for the institute.

Darren is also passionate about public outreach and has given lectures for schoolchildren and members of the public all over the world. He is a member of the team that produces the Periodic Table of Videos, a chemistry YouTube channel that, as of September 2025, has 1.63 million subscribers and has been viewed over 293 million times (https://www.youtube.com/periodicvideos).

About the Daniell Lecture

The Daniell Lecture is annual schools outreach lecture delivered by the Department of Chemistry at King's and sponsored by the Chilterns & Middlesex branch of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Each year, a guest speaker is invited to share their research and journey into science with an audience of local school students. Kickstarted in 1995, the series is in memory of John Frederic Daniell, who was appointed the first Professor of Chemistry at King’s College London in 1831. The first chemical laboratory was founded a few years later in 1834. Daniell remained at King's until 1845 and in 1846 the Daniell Scholarship was founded in his honour. Daniell invented the first electrochemical cell, laying down the foundations of the study of electrochemistry and hence influencing the study of Physical Chemistry. Today, the cell named after him, the ‘Daniell Cell’, can be found in Chemistry textbooks in schools and colleges the world over.

Additional information

This event is aimed at those aged 16+. Younger attendees are welcome, but please note that attendees under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. If you are aged 14–16 and booking for yourself, please check with a parent or guardian before booking your place.

This event is organised by the Department of Chemistry at King’s College London. If you have any questions or would like any further details, please email nmes-outreach@kcl.ac.uk.

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