报告一： Design of highly efficient electrocatalysts: from fundamental to practical

主办：材料科学与工程系
报告人：Dr. Yao Zheng
时间：8月21日上午10:00-11:00
地点：澳门十大赌厅网一号楼210会议室
主持人：郭少军

报告摘要：

The core of energy conversion technologies is developing efficient electrocatalysts for a series of electrochemical reactions proceeded on the electrodes. In the past eight years, we developed different carbon-based (e.g. heteroatoms doped graphene and carbon nitride) nanomaterials for efficient electrocatalysis like oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The nature of these electrochemical processes and reactivity origin of corresponding electrocatalysts were revealed by a combination approach of atomic imaging, spectrum characterization, electrochemical measurements, and DFT computation. As a result, we established ORR and HER activity trends for carbon-based materials by linking their apparent activities (e.g. exchange current density) with their intrinsic adsorption energies and electronic structures. We will also discuss recent debates about the experimental/theoretical activity descriptor of alkaline HER and some outlooks on the Cu-based alloy electrocatalysts for selective CO2 reduction.

报告人简介:

Dr. Yao Zheng received his PhD degree in 2014 from the University of Queensland, Australia. Currently he is a DECRA fellowship in the University of Adelaide, working together with Prof. Shizhang Qiao. His current research focuses on the fundamental study of electrocatalysts in ORR, HER and CO2 reduction applications by combining experiments and theoretical computation. Up to date, Yao has published 66 journal papers, with over 8800 citation times and 23 ESI highly cited papers. H-index is 34. As first and corresponding authors, he has published Nature Energy, Nature Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Chem. Rev., Chem. Soc. Rev., Adv. Mater. etc in 30 papers. As the sole chief investigator, he has got >700 K Australian Dollar research funds from Australian Research Council.

 

报告二： Design of Carbon-Based Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy Conversions – A Theoretical Point of View

主办：材料科学与工程系
报告人：Dr Yan Jiao
时间：8月21日上午11:00-12:00
地点：澳门十大赌厅网一号楼210会议室
主持人：郭少军

报告摘要：

The dwindling supply of fossil fuels urges us to explore alternative power sources to drive our highly automotive society. Under this background, establish reliable, clean and sustainable energy supplies are of great importance, and using electrochemical methods to realize energy conversions hold a great promise. Among these reactions, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and CO2 reduction reaction (CRR) are the most studied, due to their respective roles in hydrogen production, fuel cells, and fuel generation, respectively. Effective candidates for these reactions are often based on metals, while the potential of carbon-based electrocatalysts for these reactions is not fully discovered. In this regard, we have evaluated and designed a series of carbon-based electrocatalysts for HER, ORR and CRR by density functional theory calculations. These carbon-based materials include heteroatoms doped graphene, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), and their complexes. In these materials, reaction mechanisms from our theoretical computations are shown to be in good agreement with experimental observations. We successfully established the relationship between the apparent electrochemical performance and the intrinsic surface adsorption behaviour for carbon-based materials. Furthermore, we explored their reactivity origin to guide the design of more efficient electrocatalysts. Finally, we have summarized methods on three levels to improve carbon-based materials’ performance for these reactions.

报告人简介:

Dr. Yan Jiao’s research interest is using computational electrochemistry to study electrocatalytic reactions on various materials' surfaces. She also aims to design highly active and highly selective catalysts for electrochemical clean energy conversion reactions, including hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, and CO2 reduction reaction. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland in 2012, and am currently working as a University of Adelaide Beacon Fellow (i.e. Vice Chancellor's Fellow). She has published 38 journal papers, with over 6400 citation times and h-index of 27.