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Seminar Speaker: Ivan Moreno-Hernandez, Duke University
October 18, 2024 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Understanding Activation and Degradation Pathways of Oxygen-Evolving Electrocatalysts Across Spatiotemporal Domains
Abstract
Electrochemical approaches have the potential to enable sustainable energy and chemical infrastructures this century via the generation of commodity chemicals with renewable sources of energy. Still, electrochemical devices are currently limited due to poor catalyst performance for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The Moreno-Hernandez Laboratory specializes in designing new materials for next-generation energy devices via a multiscale feedback loop that integrates precise synthesis of nanomaterials, atomic-scale observations of structural dynamics in liquid environments with transmission electron microscopy, and the assessment of electrocatalyst performance under relevant operating conditions. Integration of these approaches has resulted in the discovery of key OER degradation pathways due to nanoscale effects that were previously unknown, the rational design of complex noble metal oxides that exhibit improved catalytic performance towards the OER, and the design of low-iridium OER catalysts with that exhibit improved durability under operation. Our studies highlight the importance of multimodal approaches to guide material design and motivate further study of nanoscale effects that can be harnessed to design efficient, earth-abundant, and durable electrocatalysts for sustainable chemical transformations.
Biography
Prof. Ivan A. Moreno-Hernandez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Duke University. His current research interests focus on the application of electrochemistry to renewable energy, with an emphasis on understanding the structural dynamics of electrochemical materials with liquid phase transmission electron microscopy. Ivan received his B.S. degree in Chemistry and Physics with University Honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2014, and his Ph.D. degree as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2019. His research at Caltech with Prof. Nathan S. Lewis focused on studying earth-abundant materials for anodic reactions in acidic electrolytes. Ivan was a postdoctoral scholar from 2019 to 2022 in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos on studying nanomaterials with liquid phase transmission electron microscopy.
