Towards More Rational Design of Electrocatalyst for Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Research Interests:

The energy appetite from our global society to satisfy the requirements of mankind’s development is insatiable. However, most of the present fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) are not renewable. For the sustainable development of our society, we thus have to increasingly tap into alternative energy resources, such as wave, geothermal, solar, and wind sources, to satisfy our energy needs in the near future. In addition, the emission of carbon dioxide is unavoidable in the case of fossil fuel combustion, which results in global warming and other environmental issues. Therefore, discovering alternative energy sources and solving the environmental issues of carbon dioxide emission become more and more important. This work aims to design highly efficient catalysts for energy storage and conversion based on an innovative paradigm, i.e. theoretical descriptors based catalyst design, to solve the energy problems mentioned above. We find the binding energy of CO on electrode is an important descriptor for the activity of CO₂electroreduction.

Teaching Interests:

1. theoretical descriptor of catalysis,

2. energetic scaling relationship,

3. potential-dependent electrochemistry