Publications related to Molecular electrocatalysis at soft interfaces

Green hydrogen production using Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 bioanode and cuprous oxide-based photocathode

In recent years, many efforts have been made to find alternative renewable energy sources that can ideally replace the use of fossil fuels in all aspects. One of the new emerging energy technologies is the bioelectrochemical system, of which two types are ...

EPFL2024

Biobased surfactant

Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Anastasiia Komarova, Songlan Sun

The present invention relates to a compound of the general formula (I), and (II)wherein one of R11 and R12 is hydrogen and the other is -CH2-R70, and one of R13 and R14 is hydrogen and the other is -CH2-R71, or wherein one of R11 and R12 is hydrogen and th ...

2024

Biobased surfactant

Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Anastasiia Komarova, Songlan Sun

The present invention relates to a compound of the general formula (I), (II) and (III), more specifically of formula (Ia), (Ib), (Ic)wherein R11 and R12 or R21 and R22 or R31 and R32 are both hydrogen or form together with CHR50 a cyclic moiety or one of R ...

2024

Photogeneration of Hydrogen: Insights from a Pt(II)-Complex Incorporated into a Covalent Organic Framework

Paolo Costa, Federico De Biasi

Pt(II)-based molecular catalysts stand as a prototypical system in hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) owing to their consistently elevated activity levels. Their integration into heterogeneous systems thus provides an ideal platform to develop catalytic ma ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag2024

Tailoring nanocatalysts and reaction interfaces for water- and CO2-electrolysis

Thi Ha My Pham

Renewable energy sources offer a promising solution for mitigating sustainability and CO2 emissions-related issues due to their vast energy generation capacity. They enable hydrogen production via water electrolysis, as well as carbon capture and utilizati ...

EPFL2024

Engineering Frustrated Lewis Pair Active Sites in Porous Organic Scaffolds for Catalytic CO2 Hydrogenation

Anne-Clémence Corminboeuf, Jacob Terence Blaskovits, Shubhajit Das, Rubén Laplaza Solanas

Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs), featuring reactive combinations of Lewis acids and Lewis bases, have been utilized for myriad metal-free homogeneous catalytic processes. Immobilizing the active Lewis sites to a solid support, especially to porous scaffolds, ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Using Complex Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage and Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells for Electricity Production

Youngdon Ko

Hydrogen storage and utilization are the technologies to achieve carbon-neutral energy systems with renewable energy sources. Among the various materials that have been investigated, complex hydrides are a material exhibiting high gravimetric hydrogen dens ...

EPFL2023

Single emulsion drops for photocatalytic water splitting as a membrane-free approach to product separation

Sophia Haussener, Esther Amstad, Swarnava Nandy, Sangram Ashok Savant, Gaia De Angelis

The coevolution of hydrogen and oxygen during photocatalytic water splitting presents a challenge for efficient product separation. Here, we demonstrate membrane-free, drop-based photocatalytic water splitting with inherent product separation and competiti ...

2023

Investigating the impact of the molecular charge-exchange rate on detached SOLPS-ITER simulations

Basil Duval, Holger Reimerdes, Christian Gabriel Theiler, Kevin Henricus Annemarie Verhaegh

Plasma-molecular interactions generate molecular ions which react with the plasma and contribute to detachment through molecular activated recombination (MAR), reducing the ion target flux, and molecular activated dissociation (MAD), both of which create e ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2023

The design and development of anion exchange membranes for hydrogen fuel cells

Xingyu Wu

Hydrogen fuel cells are an essential component of hydrogen economy, which have been advocated as a major path towards the decarbonization of the energy sector. Within the two main types of low-temperature hydrogen fuel cells, anion-exchange membrane fuel c ...

EPFL2023

Gas/Surface reactions probed by reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy

Harmina Vejayan

In my thesis, I present an investigation of the dissociation reactions of gas phase molecules on single crystal metal surfaces studied by a molecular beam in combination with Reflection Absorption Infrared Spectroscopy (RAIRS). Two gas/surface systems were ...

EPFL2023

Solid-state synthesis of CdFe2O4 binary catalyst for potential application in renewable hydrogen fuel generation

Michael Graetzel, Shaik Mohammed Zakeeruddin

Clean energy is highly needed at this time when the energy requirements are rapidly increasing. The observed increasing energy requirement are largely due to continued industrialization and global population explosion. The current means of energy source is ...

Nature Portfolio2022

Strategic factors to design the next generation of molecular water oxidation catalysts: Lesson learned from ruthenium complexes

Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin

Energy conversion through sustainable means is essential to counter global warming and an urgent solution through a multidisciplinary approach is required. The temperature change stems from the emission of greenhouse gases largely contributed by burning fo ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2022

Redox dual-flow battery for combined electricity storage and hydrogen production

Danick Reynard

The energy transition towards a carbon-neutral and sustainable economy is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century to combat global warming and pollution. The decarbonization process is affecting every sector of the economy (electricity, transpor ...

EPFL2022

Support-Dependent Cu-In Bimetallic Catalysts for Tailoring the Activity of Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction

Thi Ha My Pham, Kun Zhao, Wen Luo, Mo Li, Youngdon Ko, Liping Zhong

Cu-based bimetallic catalysts have attracted great attention for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction due to their high activity and selectivity. This work reports the application of Cu-In bimetallic catalysts for the RWGS reaction and demonstrates ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2022

Electric metal contacts to monolayer blue phosphorus: electronic and chemical properties

Pengfei Ou, Xiao Zhou, Cheng Chen

The contact nature when monolayer blue phosphorus (blueP) interfaces with three transition metal electrodes (i. e., Pd, Ir, and Pt) was unraveled by the ab initio density functional theory calculations. Specifically, n-type Schottky contact is observed for ...

ELSEVIER2022

Atomic Level Insights of Non-Noble Metal Catalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Lichen Bai

The conversion of intermittent renewable energy resources in the form of chemical bond, such as hydrogen production from electrochemical water splitting, is a promising way to satisfy the future global energy demand and address the environmental issues. Th ...

EPFL2021

Micro-Electrode with Fast Mass Transport for Enhancing Selectivity of Carbonaceous Products in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

Michael Graetzel, Mingkui Wang, Jingshan Luo, Xiaoyu Zhang, Dan Ren, Qixing Zhang

During electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction on copper electrodes in an aqueous electrolyte, one of the key challenges is the competition between hydrogen evolution and CO2 reduction, especially under large current density. Here, micro-electrodes ...

2021

Decreasing the Stability of Borohydride with Ionic Liquids for Hydrogen Storage and Carbon Dioxide Conversion

Loris Giovanni Lombardo

The world needs to move from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy based society. With the increasing electricity production from wind and PV, short and long term energy storage are becoming one of challenge of the 21st century. While batteries are the prefe ...

EPFL2021

Hydrogen production on demand by redox-mediated electrocatalysis: A kinetic study

Hubert Girault, Sunny Isaïe Maye, Danick Reynard

Producing hydrogen from water using a redox mediator on solid electrocatalyst particles in a reactor offers several advantages over classical electrolysis in terms of safety, membrane degradation, purity and flexibility. Herein, vanadium-mediated hydrogen ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2021