Profile

I joined UvA in 2014 after more than four years of research on solid oxide fuel cells at the University of Alberta in Canada.  As a tenure-track assistant professor at the Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, I am working in the Sustainable Chemistry Research Priority Area program and focusing on the (electro)catalyst design and development for clean energy applications, including fuel cells, supercapacitors, CO₂ valorizations. In particular, developing high-performance yet robust metallic nanomaterials, perovskite oxide and porous carbons are my main interests.  Recently, I was awarded the NWO-GDST Chemistry for Advanced Materials Grant (290 €k) to design cost-effective catalyst for the electroless plating of Cu in the printed circuit board.

Research Highlights

(1) N-doped carbons and composites

Electrochemical oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER) are central to the field of energy conversion and storage. The problem is that both processes are sluggish, requiring precious-metal catalysts. Using nitrilotriacetates as the precursor and different synthesis procedures, we developed N-doped carbons and composites as the alternative catalysts. One article was featured in the 2017 Emerging Investigator issue of Green Chem. 

(2) Double perovskite oxide

Double perovskite catalyst with a general formula of A₂B₂O_5+δ demonstrated much higher oxygen ion diffusion rate and surface-exchange coefficient relative to the ABO₃-type perovskite. We developed a series of double perovskite oxide as the multi-functional electrocatalysts.

• We report a novel catalyst, NdBa_0.75Ca_0.25Co_xFe_2-xO_5+δ that showed the “best of both worlds” effect, enabling excellent oxygen reduction activity in both low-temperature fuel cells (<100 °C) and solid oxide fuel cells (>600 °C). See Adv. Funct. Mater. 2016.
• Besides, we also investigated the surface degradation of the double perovskite during the electrochemical reactions via advanced transmission electron microscope (Chem. Mater. 2017) and used it as the catalyst for oxygen reduction and water splitting reactions (Nano Energy 2017).

(3) Solid oxide fuel cells reactor

• Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can offer more than use as a power generator. By incorporating a functional catalytic layer, we managed to realize the simultaneous in-situ CO₂ conversion via the methane dry reforming, electricity generation and syngas production in SOFCs (Energy Environ. Sci. 2016).
• We discovered the selective deposition of perovskite oxide on the oxide phase in the cermet (ceramic-metal) composite of the SOFC anode. This highly porous layer extended the triple-phase boundaries of the anode, suppressed the decomposition of oxide (e.g., doped barium cerates electrolyte)  and enhanced the activity for internal methane reforming (Adv. Mater. 2016).

Research Interests

• Electrocatalysis for clean energy solutions, including oxygen reduction and water splitting reactions, fuel cells and supercapacitors.
• Functionalized carbon materials via heteroatom doping, tuning porous structure and compositing with a secondary functional phase.
• Perovskite oxide (electro)catalysis
• Solid oxide fuel cells and membrane reactors

Self-motivated students who are interested in doing a bachelor or master project regarding (electro)catalysis are welcomed!

• In the group, we have a standard rotating (ring-)disc electrode (RDE and RRDE) system and a number of homemade setups to evaluate the electrochemical performances of various materials for the key reactions in the emerging energy conversion and storage devices (e.g., to determine the proton conductivity, to evaluate the activity and to explore the reaction pathways.
• We also have a high-temperature setup coupled with a fast gas chromatography. It enables us to perform studies on solid oxide fuel cells, membrane reactors for conversion and separation (e.g., O₂ purification), and the conventional flow reactor for catalytic conversions (e.g., methane reforming, CO₂ hydrogenation). 

In addition, we have various materials characterization equipment in-house, including XRD, SEM, NMR, GC-MS, FTIR, UV-Vis, temperature-programmed techniques (TPDRO),  gas/liquid adsorption equipment, mercury intrusion porosimetry and TGA-DSC.

Other critical analyses such as advanced TEM,  XPS and Ramam are also available at our collaborating institutions.