(6bs) Electrochemical Strategies for Sustainable Energy Technologies

Electrochemical
Strategies for Sustainable Energy Technologies

Joshua M. McEnaney, Postdoctoral
Scholar, Stanford University

Research Interests:

Among the
biggest challenges facing humanity is the transition to sustainable energy and chemical
production processes. The development of clean technologies for energy
production, energy storage, and conversion of undesirable chemicals into useful
products can mitigate societal dependence on fossil fuels and sustainably
provide for societal needs. Electrochemical technologies (i.e. advanced electrolyzers, fuel cells, batteries) are particularly well
suited to provide these clean processes as renewable electricity costs are
rapidly declining and have already become the cheapest sources of new electricity
in many parts of the world. With the ultimate goal of
transforming the global energy landscape, the development of materials and
methods to directly use renewable electricity is imperative.

It is my
career goal to lead and manage a research group at an academic institution that
works on research to enable sustainable energy technologies. I am most
interested in developing research in electrochemical areas with respect to
catalysis, energy transformations, and chemical production processes. Reactions
of interest include nitrogen reduction, nitrate reduction, carbon
dioxide/monoxide reduction, water electrolysis, oxygen reduction, hydrogen
oxidation, water desalination, and hydrogen peroxide production. In the short
term, I intend to focus my research group on two major thrusts 1) Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction
including both dinitrogen and nitrate reduction to form ammonia fertilizer and
other N-based products, and 2)
Electrochemical Carbon Oxide Reduction including both CO₂ and CO
reduction to fuel and chemical products as a form of artificial photosynthesis.
An enveloping theme of the group will be to leverage fundamental electrocatalysis, electrochemistry, materials science, and
surface interface science to develop highly active and selective
electrochemical systems for these and other reactions. Specific research focus
areas we will use to achieve this include targeted electrocatalyst
development and characterization, electrolyte engineering, application of
unique and advantageous experimental conditions (i.e. pressure, temperature,
gas flow, product separations, multi-step processes), and the development and
integration of device designs. Over time, we will expand to new electrochemical
reactions and related clean energy technologies as the group grows. The
overarching goals of the group will be to innovate, understand, and develop new
materials solutions and clean energy technologies addressing pertinent energy
and environmental challenges facing the world as well as to train the next
generation of scientists and engineers to be equipped as creative experts in
this important and growing science and engineering field. We will actively
foster academic, industrial, and government based collaborations to create an
interdisciplinary and highly informed learning environment which will
accelerate our opportunities for success at the frontier of sustainable energy.

Research Experience:

Stanford
University - Postdoctoral Research Assistant; SUNCAT; Chemical Engineering

Advisor:
Thomas Jaramillo                                                                                            2015-Present

-
Developed electrochemical and sustainable ammonia production from N₂
and NO₃^-

- Developed methods and materials
for selective CO₂ reduction, oxygen reduction, and other

 
sustainable energy relevant reactions spanning materials synthesis and
characterization,

 
electrocatalysis, thermocatalysis,
and photoelectrochemistry

-
Designed and purchased infrastructure ($250K) for new research projects

The
Pennsylvania State University - Graduate Research Assistant; CCI Solar Fuels;
Chemistry

Advisor:
Raymond Schaak                                                                                             2011-2015

- Developed new catalysts for
renewable energy applications such as the H­₂

 
evolution reaction and CO₂ reduction reaction using
earth-abundant materials

-
Introduced and developed novel nanoparticle synthesis methods

SUNY
College of Environmental Science and Forestry - UGrad
Research Assistant; Chemistry

Advisor:
Neal Abrams                                                                                                   2008-2011

-
Studied solid state synthesis and characterization of photocatalytic materials

-
Developed electrochemical educational labs for photovoltaic materials syntheses

-
Helped start up new research lab

Undergraduate
Research Assistant; Research Foundation of SUNY; Chemistry

Co-Advisors:
Neal Abrams, Kelley Donaghy, and Christopher Nomura                            2010

-
Developed new techniques for photocatalytic, biomimetic materials

  synthesis and characterization

-
Developed inorganic chemistry teaching demonstrations

-
Studied genetic engineering of E. coli for biodegradable polymer production

Teaching Interests:

Throughout
my academic studies, I have been enthusiastically involved as a teaching
assistant, a class tutor, a workshop leader, a personal tutor, a research
mentor, a conference presenter, a guest lecturer, and the president of a
chemical outreach club. These experiences have given me significant teaching
and mentoring opportunities across a wide array of audience types and sizes. I
have learned that it is important to be well organized and strategic in these
teaching scenarios to make sure that the lesson content is received and
understood. I believe that classroom and laboratory learning can be strongly
enhanced by direct mentoring and engagement, both by myself and by trained
student mentors and TAs to reinforce important concepts of the course. It is my
goal as a teacher to develop an organized and engaging learning environment
that prepares students for the workforce. To become a top caliber teacher, I
plan to continuously develop and improve my teaching methods to better engage
and educate my students and student researchers.

Select Publications:

¨      S.Andersen, V. Čolić, S.
Yang, J. A. Schwalbe, A. C. Nielander, J.
M. McEnaney, K. Enemark-Rasmussen, J. Baker, A.
R. Singh, B. A. Rohr, M. J. Statt, S. J. Blair, S. Mezzavilla, J. Kibsgaard, P. Vesborg, M. Cargnello, S. Bent,
T. F. Jaramillo, I. Stephens, J. K. Nørskov, I. Chorkendorff, Assessing the Current State of Catalyst
Development for the Electrochemical Reduction of N₂ to NH₃,
Nature, submitted manuscript 2018

¨      J. M.
McEnaney, A. R. Singh, J. A.
Schwalbe, J. Kibsgaard, J. C. Lin, M. Cargnello, T. F. Jaramillo, J. K. Nørskov,
Ammonia Synthesis from N₂ and H₂O Using a Lithium Cycling
Electrification Strategy at Atmospheric Pressure, Energy Environ. Sci., 2017

DOI: 10.1039/C7EE01126A

¨      P. Chakthranont, T. R. Hellstern, J. M.
McEnaney, T. F. Jaramillo, Design and Fabrication of a Precious Metal-Free
Tandem Core–Shell p⁺n Si/W-Doped BiVO₄
Photoanode for Unassisted Water Splitting, Adv.
Energy Mater., 2017

DOI:
10.1002/aenm.201701515

¨      L. V. P. Mendes*, J. L. Snider*, S. D. Fleischman, J. Kibsgaard, J M.
McEnaney, D. A. G. Aranda, T. F. Jaramillo, Polyol Synthesis of
Cobalt–Copper Alloy Catalysts for Higher Alcohol Synthesis from Syngas, Catal. Lett., 2017

DOI
10.1007/s10562-017-2130-5

¨      J. M.
McEnaney, T. L. Soucy,
J. M. Hodges, J. F. Callejas, J. S. Mondschein, R. E. Schaak,
Colloidally-Synthesized Cobalt Molybdenum Nanoparticles as Active and Stable Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Under
Alkaline Conditions. J. Mater. Chem. A,
2016

DOI:
10.1039/C5TA07055D

¨      J. F. Callejas, C. G. Read,
E. J. Popczun, J.
M. McEnaney, R. E. Schaak, Nanostructured Co₂P
Electrocatalyst for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
and Direct Comparison with Morphologically Equivalent CoP.
Chem. Mater., 2015

DOI:
10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01284

¨      E. J. Popczun, C. W. Roske, C. G. Read, J. C. Crompton, J. M. McEnaney, N. S. Lewis, R. E. Schaak,
Highly Branched Cobalt Phosphide Nanostructures for Hydrogen-Evolution Electrocatalysis. J.
Mater. Chem. A, 2015

DOI:
10.1039/C4TA06642A

¨      J. M.
McEnaney, R. E. Schaak,
Solution Synthesis of Metal Silicide Nanoparticles. Inorg. Chem., 2015

DOI:
10.1021/ic502394u

¨      J. F. Callejas*, J. M. McEnaney*, C. G. Read*, J. C.
Crompton, A. J. Biacchi, E. J. Popczun,
T. R. Gordon, N. S. Lewis, R. E. Schaak, Electrocatalytic and Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production
from Acidic and Neutral-pH Aqueous Solutions Using Iron Phosphide
Nanoparticles. ACS Nano, 2014

DOI:
10.1021/nn5048553

* Note:  These authors contributed equally.

¨      J. M.
McEnaney, J. C. Crompton, J. F. Callejas, E. J. Popczun, C. G.
Read, N. S. Lewis, R. E. Schaak, Electrocatalytic
Hydrogen Evolution Using Amorphous Tungsten Phosphide Nanoparticles. Chem. Commun.,
2014

DOI: 10.1039/C4CC04709E

¨      J. M.
McEnaney, J. C. Crompton, J. F. Callejas, E. J. Popczun, A. J. Biacchi, N. S. Lewis, R. E. Schaak,
Amorphous Molybdenum Phosphide Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic
Hydrogen Evolution. Chem. Mater., 2014

DOI:
10.1021/cm502035s