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Lecture: Rational Design of Novel Nanostructured Electrocatalysts for H2 Fuel Cells and Zn-Air Batteries Fuel Cells

Posted: 2019-05-28

Time: 28th May, 2019, 3:00 pm
Venue: No.2 Conference Room, Conference Center
Lecturer: SUN Shuhui, Laboratory of Sustainable Nanotechnology (SUN), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Center for Energy, Materials, and Telecommunications, Montréal, Canada

Abstract:

As clean and sustainable energy conversion devices, hydrogen PEM fuel cells are expected to play dominant role in future clean energy solutions for various applications, particularly for electric vehicles (EVs). However, the high cost of Pt catalyst is one of the main obstacles for the widespread commercialization of PEM fuel cells. Therefore, developing highly efficient low-Pt and non-platinum group metal (Non-PGM) catalysts are one of the key solutions to solve the above-mentioned challenges. Among the Non-PGM catalysts, Fe/N/C catalysts are considered as one of the most promising ORR catalysts. Dodelet at INRS have made one major breakthrough on Fe/N/C catalyst, with activity and performance approaching to that of Pt. However, the durability of all the reported Non-PGM catalysts (including Fe/N/C) is still insufficient for practical applications and its performance decay mechanism is still unclear. Very recently, we made a systematic study to verify whether iron is at the origin of the first rapid decay (stability problem) of the Fe/N/C catalyst for ORR in PEM fuel cells, which is important to find better ways to improve the durability of Fe/N/C catalysts. Moreover, we also developed other types of novel nanostructured Non-PGM catalysts for ORR in fuel cells. In addition, thermodynamic stability and DFT evaluations have been employed to study the Fe-based ORR catalysts. On the other hand, a series of low-Pt nanostructured electrocatalysts, synthesize by green chemistry and atomic layer deposition (ALD), including nanowires, nanotubes and single atoms, for fuel cells will also be presented. In the end, I will also briefly introduce our recent work on developing high-performance bifunctional ORR/OER catalysts for Zn-air batteries.

Introduction:

Dr. SUN Shuhui is a Full Professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, center for Energy, Materials, and Telecommunications (INRS-EMT) in Montreal, Canada. He is the head of the Laboratory of Sustainable Nanotechnology. His current research interests focus on the development of multi-functional nanomaterials (graphene, single atoms, CNTs, MOF, metal and oxides) for Energy and Environment applications, including PEM fuel cells (low-Pt and Pt-free catalysts), Metal-ion (Li-/Na-/Zn-ion) batteries, Metal-air batteries, CO2 reduction, and Water splitting for H2 production. He has published 11 book chapters, over 120 articles in journals including Energy Environmental Science, Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Nano Energy, Adv. Funct. Mater., and holds 2 US patents.

His recent awards include the Fellow of Global Young Academy (2017), ECS-Toyota Young Investigator Fellow (2017), IUPAC Novel Materials Youth Prize (2017), Canada Governor General's Academic Gold Medal (2012), etc. He is the Vice President of the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science (IAOEES). He serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief of Electrochemical Energy Reviews (EER), editor of Catalysts, editor of Nano Advances, and the editorial board member for another 7 journals related to nanomaterials and energy.

Contact: SHAO Zhigang
Phone: 84379153