G. Wu
University at Buffalo, SUNY,
United States
Keywords: oxygen-reduction, oxygen -evolution, catalysts, PGM-free, PGM, carbon support
Summary:
Clean and efficient energy storage and conversion via sustainable water reactions have attracted substantial attention to address the energy and environmental issues due to the overwhelming use of fossil fuels. These electrochemical reactions are crucial for desirable clean energy technologies, including advanced water electrolyzers and hydrogen fuel cells. Their sluggish reaction kinetics lead to inefficient energy conversion. Innovative electrocatalysis, i.e., catalysis at the interface between the electrode and electrolyte to facilitate charge transfer and mass transport, plays a vital role in boosting energy conversion efficiency and providing sufficient performance and durability for these energy technologies. In this talk, I highlight recent progress and achievements in developing low-cost and high-performance catalysts at the University at Buffalo-SUNY for these critical electrocatalysis processes, including the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for hydrogen proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for alkaline anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers.