Electrocatalysis
Fuel cells (Figure 1a) and electrolysers (Figure 1b) are promising candidates for clean and efficient electricity generation and chemical production, respectively. However, electrochemical reactions in these devices, for example the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at fuel cell cathodes, have underlying issues such as sluggish kinetics. At the current state of technology, Pt and Pt-alloys are the most commercially utilised catalysts for the ORR reaction at the fuel cell cathode. However, the high cost and poor stability of Pt and its alloys hinders the further development of fuel cell devices.
Figure 1. Example schemes of (a) Proton-conducting fuel cell (b) Glycerol electrolyser.
Therefore, we focus on the synthesis of precious-metal-free electrocatalysts and sustainable catalyst supports using various techniques with aims that include improving stability and maintaining high activity for these electrochemical reactions (Figure 2). We also research related engineering problems, such as improving the electrochemical interface and testing setups.
Figure 2. Parameters to consider for electrocatalysts synthesis and design.
Our modelling via density functional theory (DFT) provides a theoretical understanding for development of these sustainable electrocatalysts. Meanwhile, characterisation of our catalysts using electrochemical techniques provides important parameters such as activity and durability, while advanced characterisation methods (Figure 3) provide information on the local catalyst environment
Figure 3. (a) Scanning electron microscopy image of NiFeOxHy/fibre hybrid shows uniform ultrathin NiFeOxHy layer (b) Transmission electron microscopy image of a cubic carbon cage made from salt templating.