Speaker: Drew Higgins
13 October 2023
Title: In situ characterization to understand electro-catalytic processes
Bio:
Drew is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, where his research focuses on sustainable electrochemical energy technology development. Particularly, his team focuses on applications including electrochemical CO2 conversion, rechargeable zinc-ion batteries, supercapacitors, water electrolyzers and biomass valorization processes. His team’s research covers the synthesis of new nanostructured electrode materials and their integration into electrochemical technologies, as well as developing advanced understanding of material performance through the development and implementation of in situ characterization techniques. Previously Drew completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2015, with his thesis involving the synthesis, characterization, and device integration of nanostructured oxygen reduction catalysts for low temperature fuel cells. During this time, he spent approximately one year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory working. In 2015, Drew started a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University in the Department of Chemical Engineering and in 2017 he was promoted to an Associate Staff Scientist at Stanford University / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where he oversaw research activities focusing on discovering and understanding new electrocatalyst compositions and structures for a variety of important electrochemical reactions, including water oxidation, CO2 reduction, oxygen reduction and methane activation. More details are available at: www.higginslab.com/.
Abstract:
This talk will focus on the use of in situ: (1) X-ray spectroscopy; (2) X-ray spectro-microscopy; and (3) Electron microscopy for characterizing and understanding electrocatalysts under reaction conditions. Particularly, this webinar will focus on electrochemical CO2 conversion, which offers a route to use renewable sources of electricity to convert CO2 into valuable carbon-based fuels and chemicals, including carbon monoxide, ethanol and ethylene. For electrochemical CO2 conversion technologies to become viable component of future sustainable energy infrastructures, the development of improved performance materials (catalysts, electrodes, membrane electrode assemblies) are needed to achieve high conversion rates, selectivity and single-pass utilization of CO2. This talk will focus on the development of techniques to characterize the properties of electrochemical CO2 conversion materials under reaction conditions that will guide the design of next generation materials and reactors as well as the future research needs of electrochemical CO2 conversion technology from a materials understanding standpoint.
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