Seminar

Date 2019-11-26 
Time 2:00 PM 
Title Next material design for CO2 reduction electrocatalysts 

 Title Next material design for CO2 reduction electrocatalysts

 

■ Speaker : Dr. Dae-Hyeon Nam(University of Toronto, Post-Doctoral Fellow)

 

■ Date and time 11/26 (Tue) 2:00 PM

 

■ Venue Applied Engineering Building (W1), #1423

 

■ Host : Prof. Seokwoo Jeon

 

■ Abstract : Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) for value-added fuels and chemical feedstocks, powered by renewable electricity, offers a pathway to efficient renewable energy conversion and long-term seasonal energy storage. At the heart of this electrochemical reaction is the heterogeneous electrocatalyst, a material which activates substrate species, induces concerted proton/electron transfer, binds reaction intermediates, and promotes the conversion toward target products. Currently, the selectivities to specific electro-synthesized product are still too low for many industrial applications; the low selectivities imply the need for costly separation steps.

 

In this talk, I will elucidate the importance of the rational material design for heterogeneous electrocatalysts. The performance of electrocatalytic CO2RR is determined by how the binding site and binding action of the reaction intermediates are controlled at the active materials. This presentation will cover material design principles from the thermodynamic approach for the structure and phase control of the active materials to the molecularly augmented heterogeneous catalytic approach. With the new materials for CO2RR, a new reaction beyond CO2RR and real time characterization such as in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) technique will be introduced. For the concluding remarks, the future perspective in this research field will be discussed.