Publications related to Structure and reactivity of the polarised liquid–liquid interface: what we know and what we do not

Contrasting Views of the Electric Double Layer in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction: Continuum Models vs Molecular Dynamics

In the field of electrochemical CO2 reduction, both continuum models and molecular dynamics (MD) models have been used to understand the electric double layer (EDL). MD often focuses on the region within a few nm of the electrode, while continuum models ca ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Quasi-operando Transmission Electron Microscopy Diagnostics for Electrocatalytic Processes in Liquids

Vasiliki Tileli

It is of great interest to the energy community to understand how the mechano-physico-chemical phenomena that eventually lead to device degradation are related to the startup, operation, and shutdown phases. For electrocatalytic systems operating in liquid ...

Swiss Chemical Soc2024

Polydopamine-coated photoautotrophic bacteria for improving extracellular electron transfer in living photovoltaics

Fabian Fischer, Ardemis Anoush Boghossian, Charlotte Elisabeth Marie Roullier, Melania Reggente, Mohammed Mouhib, Patricia Brandl, Hanxuan Wang

Living photovoltaics are microbial electrochemical devices that use whole cell–electrode interactions to convert solar energy to electricity. The bottleneck in these technologies is the limited electron transfer between the microbe and the electrode surfac ...

2024

Second harmonic scattering of nanoparticles: A journey into the electrical double layer

Bingxin Chu

In aqueous solutions, a charged surface causes the redistribution of nearby ions. The ion layers formed are known as the electrical double layer (EDL), and are widespread in many systems involving electrochemistry, colloidal science, biomedicine, and energ ...

EPFL2024

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

Pathways to enhance electrochemical CO2 reduction identified through direct pore-level modeling

Sophia Haussener, Shuo Liu, Etienne Boutin, Evan Fair Johnson

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to fuels and valuable products is one pathway to reduce CO2 emissions. Electrolyzers using gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) show much higher current densities than aqueous phase electrolyzers, yet models for multi-physical ...

2023

Electron imaging of gas diffusion electrodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Michele Bozzetti

The current energy crisis demands the development of new sustainable energy sources and devices with low environmental impact, including in the field of electrochemical cells. Mass transport limitations can reduce the overall performance of the device by l ...

EPFL2023

Surface Charge Boundary Condition Often Misused in CO2 Reduction Models

Sophia Haussener, Etienne Boutin, Evan Fair Johnson

The Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations have been used to model species transport in electrochemical CO2 reduction, where the surface charge boundary condition accounts for the potential drop across the Stern layer. A direct comparison of the published models ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

A Cobalt Nanocatalyst for the Hydrogenation and Oxidative Dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles

Paul Joseph Dyson, Yelin Hu, Matthias Beller, Mingyang Liu, Xiang Li

Catalytic hydrogenation and oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles to produce tetrahydroquinoline and quinoline derivatives are important reactions of particular importance in the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. Herein, we report earth-abu ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag2023

Electrolyte engineering via ether solvent fluorination for developing stable non-aqueous lithium metal batteries

Mounir Driss Mensi, Yubo Zhao

Fluorination of solvents, useful for non-aqueous lithium-based batteries, improves the electrochemical stability but decreases the ionic conductivity. Here, the authors report a targeted functionalization of an ether solvent to balance the electrolyte ioni ...

Nature Portfolio2023

Effect of a temperature gradient on the screening properties of ionic fluids

Andrea Grisafi, Federico Grasselli

The electrostatic screening properties of ionic fluids are of paramount importance in countless physical processes. Yet the screening behavior of ionic conductors out of thermal equilibrium has to date mainly been studied in the context of thermoelectric p ...

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2023

The Three-Phase Contact Potential Difference Modulates the Water Surface Charge

Aleksandra Radenovic, Andrei Kiselev, Roman Doronin, Vasily Artemov

The surface charge of an open water surface is crucialfor solvationphenomena and interfacial processes in aqueous systems. However, themagnitude of the charge is controversial, and the physical mechanismof charging remains incompletely understood. Here we ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Reactivity of Bromine Radical with Dissolved Organic Matter Moieties and Monochloramine: Effect on Bromate Formation during Ozonation

Urs von Gunten, Sung Eun Lim

Bromine radical (Br center dot) has been hypothesized to be a key intermediate of bromate formation during ozonation. Once formed, Br center dot further reacts with ozone to eventually form bromate. However, this reaction competes with the reaction of Br c ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Charge Dynamics Electron Microscopy Nanoscale Imaging of Femtosecond Plasma Dynamics

Thomas La Grange, Fabrizio Carbone, Luca Piazza, Ivan Madan, Tom Theodorus Antonius Lummen, Gabriele Berruto, Giovanni Maria Vanacore, Francesco Barantani, Ido Kaminer, Simone Gargiulo

Understanding and actively controlling the spatiotemporal dynamics of nonequilibrium electron clouds is fundamental for the design of light and electron sources, high power electronic devices, and plasma-based applications. However, electron clouds evolve ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

MoMuCAMS: A new modular platform for boundary layer aerosol and trace gas vertical measurements in extreme environments

Roman Pohorsky, Julia Schmale, Andrea Baccarini

The Modular Multiplatform Compatible Air Measurement System (MoMuCAMS) is a newly developed in situ aerosol and trace gas measurement payload for lower atmospheric vertical profiling in extreme environments. MoMuCAMS is a multiplatform compatible system, p ...

2023

Molecular insights into the electrical double layer of colloidal oxide particles obtained through second harmonic scattering

Marie Bischoff

Photocatalytic applications play an essential role in the search for alternative energy sources and environmental decontamination techniques. It is of fundamental interest to understand on a molecular level the aqueous solid/liquid interface, where photoca ...

EPFL2022

Electron probing of oxygen-evolving oxide catalysts

Tzu-Hsien Shen

Water splitting is one of the cleanest ways to store energy. The production of hydrogen and oxygen gases can be utilized in fuel cells to generate electricity, power, and heat. In the water splitting process, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), taking pla ...

EPFL2022

Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Heterostructure as a Multifunctional Protective Layer for High Performance Zinc Metal Anode

Kangning Zhao, Xu Zhang

Dendrite growth and side reactions of Zn metal anodes remain unresolved obstacles for practical application of aqueous Zn ion batteries. Herein, a two-dimensional (2D) organic-inorganic heterostructure with controlled thickness was constructed as a protect ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Molecular dynamics simulations of the evaporation of hydrated ions from aqueous solution

Philip Robin Loche

Although important for atmospheric processes and gas-phase catalysis, very little is known about the hydration state of ions in the vapor phase. Here we study the evaporation energetics and kinetics of a chloride ion from liquid water by molecular dynamics ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2022

Gentle nano-electrospray ion source for reliable and efficient generation of microsolvated ions

Oleg Boyarkine, Vladimir Kopysov, Andrei Zviagin

We present herein the design of a nano-electrospray ion source capable of reliable generation of large quantities of microsolvated ions. The source is based on a triple molecular skimmer scheme and can be quickly tuned to generate bare ions or their ionic ...

AIP Publishing2022