Catharina James

Catharina James, trail blazing nano-scientist, The First Lady of Graphene’.

After gaining her MSc in Chemistry from the Karl-Franzens University in Austria Catharina completed her PhD in Material Science at the University of Cambridge. Since then she has co-founded nano-technology business, Cambridge Nanosystems, conducting ground breaking research and development into the production and applications of graphene.

Since graphene’s isolation in 2004, the 2D single atom carbon has captured the attention of scientists, researchers and industry worldwide. It has been called the ‘wonder material’ of the 21^st century and inspired a Nobel Prize in 2010. Its uses could be almost limitless.

Graphene is 200 times stronger than its weight in steel, whilst being flexible and a super conductor both electrically and thermally. Thanks to Catharina and her team production has now been developed from gas form to powder and its uses and applications are becoming a wide scale reality. For example, allowing a non-corrosive electrical conductor to be placed into paints could send current through entire structures and pave the way to eradicate the needs of wiring and bulky steel structural supports. Catharina is an industry expert in a material that can also prove sustainable by converting greenhouse gases into graphene powder.

Post her graphene adventures, Catharina has started her own consulting agency DRCJ Consulting. It specialises in materials innovation. Carrying on from her own electric career as a nano-scientist she uses her vast knowledge in order to help small innovative start-ups with their early growing pains.

A champion of women in technology and business, Catharina has an infectious passion for her work and engages audiences wonderfully on the future of technologies and renewable energy.

Presented in association with VBQ