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Dwight Seferos, a professor in the department of chemistry in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts & Science, has received the from the Chemical Institute of Canada.

The award is presented to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant who has made an outstanding contribution to materials chemistry while working in Canada. The prize comes with an invitation to give a symposium award lecture at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Winnipeg in June.

Seferos and his group have demonstrated an ability to synthesize semiconducting and conducting plastics. In simple terms, this means making components for electronics without sourcing minerals in ways that require costly and environmentally damaging mining and extraction.

"We can build molecules for function, just as an engineer can design a bridge or skyscraper," Seferos explains. "Our 'building materials' are atoms and the bonds they form when they become molecules.

“The impact of this is we hope to one day make components for electronics without sourcing minerals in ways that require environmentally damaging mining and extraction processes."