Rational design of catalyst and micro-reaction environment for effective photo-electrochemical fuel and value-added chemicals production

A sustainable solution to the global energy crisis and climate change is to replace fossil fuels with renewable carbon-free or carbon-neutral fuels or value-added chemicals prepared by an environmentally friendly process. Solar energy is a dominant renewable energy source in terms of infinite life-time and the total amount of energy supplied to entire surface of the earth. The challenge is how to develop the ability to harvest, store and utilize solar energy. In this seminar, I will present efforts in designing photo-electrocatalysts for solar to fuel conversion including CO2 and N2 reduction. I also present endeavours toward mechanistic insight in photoexcited electron-hole pair generation, their separation and chemical reactions involving them.

Moreover, microenvironment engineering at the interface between electrolyte and electrode is a powerful approach to effectively control the formation and transformation of the key intermediates of catalysis. Components in electrolytes such as cations, anions, additives, and so on, have been considered as key factors highly participating in catalysis steps via interacting with catalytic active sites, reactants, intermediates, and products. Also, systematically approach is critical to develop triple-phase-boundary (water/gas/catalyst) via controlling and balancing concentrations of reactants close to catalysts. In this talk, I will present the efforts in designing micro-environmental engineering near electrocatalysts and developing total system and how they affect to enhance photo-electrochemical performances.

About the presenter:

Professor Youn Jeong Jang is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Hanyang University. Before joining Hanyang University in 2020, she worked at UW Madison as a postdoctoral researcher. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). Her research interest includes rational design of photo-electro-catalysts and interface environmental engineering on catalysts for sustainable fuel and value added chemicals production for example water splitting, CO₂ reduction, N₂ reduction, and so on in the photo-electrochemical system.

Enquiries

For more information about the symposium, please contact Professor Tom Rufford, t.rufford@uq.edu.au