Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

Maria Skyllas-Kazacos (born October 26, 1951 in Kalymnos ) is an Australian chemist. She is known for the development of the vanadium redox accumulator .

Maria Skyllas-Kazacos came to Australia with her family in 1954 and went to school in Sydney . She studied chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales , graduating with top marks in 1974 (she also received the University Medal). In 1978 she received her doctorate from Barry Welch with a dissertation on the electrochemistry of molten salts. As a post-doctoral student , she spent a year at Bell Laboratories on a grant from the Australian research organization CSIROS. There she dealt with solar cells and received a patent for the electrochemical production of thin films of cadmium selenide. In addition, she dealt with lead batteries and discovered tetravalent lead ions in solution. For this discovery, she received the Bloom Gutmann Prize on her return. She became Queen Elizabeth II Fellow at the University of New South Wales and Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1982.

In the 1980s, she and her team at the University of New South Wales developed the vanadium redox accumulator, which was patented in 1988. Here, the redox reaction of vanadium between two oxidation stages (in one cycle between stages 5 and 4) is used in two cycles. It is used in industry, for example, as an energy storage device for wind turbines or as a reserve energy source for mobile radio stations.

In 1999 she became a member of the Order of Australia . In 2014 she became a member of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. In 2011 she received the Castner Medal of the British Society for the Chemical Industry and in 2000 the RK Murphy Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

She has been married to the scientist Michael Kazacos since 1976 and has three sons with him.

Web links

• Biography and interview at the Australian Academy of Science