Sabatier Plot and Beyond: Understand, Design and Deployment of Electrocatalysts

Electrocatalysis plays a crucial role in many new energy technologies, which are becoming increasingly important for mobile electronics, electric vehicles, and the renewable energy industry. Despite notable progress, many electrocatalytic systems still encounter obstacles such as low efficiency, poor stability, or high costs due to the use of precious metal catalysts. In this presentation, I will describe our research on the subtle structural and compositional differences among nanoscale Pt-alloy catalysts and how these factors affect their performance in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). By combining theoretical models with experiments, we have created a binary experimental descriptor (BED) that accurately reflects the calculated oxygen binding energy (deltaEo) on Pt-alloy catalyst surfaces. I will also discuss our developments in designing catalysts for long-lasting operation in PEMFCs. Finally, the talk will cover how the microenvironment at the electrode - electrolyte interface impacts electrocatalytic performance.

Speaker: Yu Huang, UC Los Angeles