(7p) Towards More Rational Design of Electrocatalyst for Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Research
Interests:

The
energy appetite from our global society to satisfy the requirements of
mankind’s development is insatiable. However, most of the present fossil
fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) are not renewable. For the sustainable
development of our society, we thus have to increasingly tap into alternative energy
resources, such as wave, geothermal, solar, and wind sources, to satisfy our
energy needs in the near future. In addition, the emission of carbon
dioxide is unavoidable in the case of fossil fuel combustion, which
results in global warming and other environmental issues. Therefore,
discovering alternative energy sources and solving the environmental issues of
carbon dioxide emission become more and more important. This work aims to
design highly efficient catalysts for energy storage and conversion based on an
innovative paradigm, i.e. theoretical descriptors based catalyst design, to
solve the energy problems mentioned above. We find the binding energy of CO on
electrode is an important descriptor for the activity of CO₂electroreduction.

Teaching
Interests:

1.
theoretical descriptor of catalysis,

2.
energetic scaling relationship,

3.
potential-dependent electrochemistry