(4cj) Dissecting and Designing (electro)Catalytic Interfaces with Atomically Precise Motifs

I am a PhD student working with Prof. Karthish Manthiram in the Chemical Engineering department at MIT. I will be completing my PhD in 2022. I believe the environment is the world’s most pressing challenge today, and I am hopeful about the prospects of using electrochemistry and catalysis to address various challenges associated with energy, global warming, pollution, and waste. In my doctoral work I have carefully interrogated electro-catalytic phenomena at well-known catalysts. In my postdoctoral studies, I would like to develop synthesis and materials expertise that enables me to compose more unique and complex active sites at (electro)catalytic interfaces.

Research Interests

I am fascinated by catalysts in their many, many contexts. It amazes me that iron oxide particles and nitrogenase enzymes catalyze the same reaction, both so well that the world depends on them, but that they appear to be just about as dissimilar as catalysts get. When chemistries or active sites look similar, across different contexts including homogeneous/heterogeneous, thermochemical/electrochemical, synthetic/biological, how do we import design principles from one context to the other? I envision myself working towards answering this question, in one way or another, throughout my current and future academic career.

In my PhD I have largely thought about the thermochemical/electrochemical divide. Specifically, how does an electrified interface, with its complex interactions between electric fields, solvent, ions, and catalysts, interact with and perturb catalysis? This is a difficult question but perhaps a fruitful one - applied potential is well-known to be a highly potent physical handle that can drastically change the thermodynamics of chemical reactions. In my postdoctoral studies, I would like to study catalytic systems that more closely straddle the homogeneous/heterogeneous and synthetic/biological divides.

PhD Research

In my thesis work, I am leveraging atomically precise motifs across several chemistries to intuitively and quantitatively describe unique ways in which catalysis is perturbed when it occurs at an electrified interface. My projects include:

1. Kinetic modeling of CO2 reduction at cobalt phthalocyanine
2. Augmenting electro-kinetic analyses with more detailed descriptions of the electric double layer
3. Pushing the bounds of kinetic analysis using statistical model discrimination and automation
4. Electrochemical C-C coupling at atomically precise motifs

Selected Publications

1. Zeng, K. Manthiram, “Redox Reservoirs: Enabling More Modular Electrochemical Synthesis” Trends in Chemistry, 3, 3 (2021)
2. Limaye, J. Zeng, A. Willard, K. Manthiram “Bayesian Data Analysis Reveals No Preference for Cardinal Tafel Slopes in CO2 Reduction Electrocatalysis” Nature Communications, 12, 703 (2021)
3. Chung, K. Jin, J. Zeng, K. Manthiram, “Mechanism of Chlorine-mediated Electrochemical Ethylene Oxidation in Saline Water” ACS Catalysis, 10, 14015-14023 (2020)
4. Zeng, N. Corbin, K. Williams, K. Manthiram, “Kinetic analysis on the role of bicarbonate in carbon dioxide electroreduction at immobilized cobalt phthalocyanine,” ACS Catalysis, 10, 7, 4326-4336 (2020)

N Corbin, J. Zeng, K. Williams, K. Manthiram, “Heterogeneous molecular catalysts for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction,” Nano Research, 12, 2093-2125 (2019)

1. Williams, N. Corbin, J. Zeng, N. Lazouski, D. Yang, K. Manthiram, “Protecting Effect of Mass Transport During Electrochemical Reduction of Oxygenated Carbon Dioxide Feedstocks” Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 3, 1225-1232 (2019)
2. Zhu, D. Yang, R. Ye, J. Zeng, N. Corbin,andK. Manthiram, “Inductive and electrostatic effects on immobilized cobalt porphyrins for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction,” Catalysis Science and Technology, 9, 974 - 980 (2019)
3. Zeng, X. Xu, V. Parameshwaran, J. Baker, S. Bent, H.-S. P. Wong, B. Clemens, “Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation by GaAs Nanowire Arrays Protected with Atomic Layer Deposited NiOx Electrocatalysts,” Journal of Electronic Materials, 47, 932 (2018)