This is a past event.

of  Valparaiso Univeristy will give a talk on "Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 on Graphene-supported Atoms and Clusters" on Thursday, September 17 at 4:00pm via Zoom.

Abstract:  Electrochemical conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals or fuels offers a route to sustainability, which is, however, largely hampered by the relatively high overpotential and/or low selectivity. Advances in synthetic methodologies, characterization techniques, and computational modeling have brought a new horizon in the design of new catalysts. In recent years, sub-nm clusters containing a few atoms are especially found to have superior catalytic activities that come from two factors: unique electronic structure due to the size effect and high specific surface area. Also, the use of sub-nm clusters brings economic benefits by largely reducing the cost, especially for precious metals such as Au, Ag, Pt, and Pd. But how small can we go? In this talk, I will address this question employing the first-principles approach. Specifically, the talk will focus on: how do these small atomic clusters or single atoms work as catalysts? What is the correlation of elemental properties of the cluster/atom with the activity? How does graphene-support affect their activities? The reaction mechanism to produce a variety of products will also be discussed. Potential candidates for superior catalytic performance for the production of fuels will be identified through computational screening of the results.

Bio:  Dr. Haiying He received her Ph.D. in physics from Michigan Technological University in 2009. From 2009-2012, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Argonne National Laboratory on the photocatalysis and nuclear waste disposal projects. In fall 2012, she started to teach at Michigan Technological University and continued with energy and nanoscience research. Since fall 2013, she has joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Valparaiso University and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Her current research interests include the fundamental and applied aspects of novel nanostructures, catalysis, and nano/molecular electronic devices. She has published 60+ peer-reviewed articles and served as referees for multiple professional journals.