(4ou) Electrochemical innovations for Sustainable Hydrogen Economy and CO2 Valorizations

An electrochemical engineer with background in chemistry and materials science. My research focuses on the fundamental understanding of electrochemical device performance limiting factors (stability, activation) and proposing mitigation strategies. My overarching scientific goal is to integrate perspective of chemistry, materials science and electrochemistry into process design to demonstrate practically viable electrochemical devices targeting net zero carbon emissions and widespread H₂ adoption. I am passionate about every aspect of research related to Hydrogen (H₂) and CO₂ reduction (H₂ generation, separations, storage, transportation and utilization, CO₂ capture and conversion) which will be my future research priorities.

Research Interests

I am an electrochemist with broad experience in fundamental studies of electrokinetic phenomenon and electrochemical devices for energy generation and storage applications. I have experience in high temperature PEM fuel cells (HT-PEM FC), different designs of CO₂ electrolyzer (solving the salt precipitation and single pass CO₂ conversion efficiency problems), Study of the transport phenomenon for triple-phase interface in electrochemical devices. In the past 5 years, some of the major research questions that I have been working on are:

1. Identify performance-limiting factors in electrochemical hydrogen pumps and CO₂ electrolyzers using advanced techniques like impedance spectroscopy and ATR-SEIRAS and develop accelerated stress tests.
2. Achieve a long-term stable (>1000 hours) CO₂ electrolyzer with high conversion rates and selective product formation. Explore replacing anion exchange membranes with proton or bipolar membranes and find economically viable anode reactions to replace water oxidation.
3. Improve heat management in low-temperature PEM fuel cells by using high-temperature PEM FCs and address their activity limitations by bridging material gaps.

As a long-term research plan, my goal is to achieve cleaner and carbon neutral sources of energy in heavy duty transportation sector primarily making the adoption of H₂ as the reality. This implies working on H₂ transportation and storage, safety aspects related to H₂ and minimizing the H₂ leak during transportation and dispensing in re-fueling stations. I also plan to work on the large-scale deployment of electrochemical CO₂ conversion devices that can demonstrate long term durability and practical viability.

My PhD research primarily focused on production of H₂ from water electrolyzer. I used rational catalyst design strategies to produce hydrogen from water using electrochemical and photoelectrochemical techniques. In all problems, my goal was to discover electrocatalyst system without platinum metal groups and find strategies to make carbon-based matrix as active as the platinum group metals. Thus, I developed strategies like inhomogeneous doping (EES 2016, Adv. Mater 2018), in-situ growth of catalyst on the substrate (PNAS 2017), morphology enhancements (ChemElectroChem 2017, PCCP 2016). For the photoelectrochemical techniques, I devised dual pulse plating strategies to make photoelectrodes (ACS Energy Lett. 2017, PCCP 2018). Even though as researchers we are making progress in low-cost production of H₂, the other aspects of H₂ deployment still needs much attention- transportation and storage. Thus, after PhD, I was intrigued by the problem of H₂ transportation and storage: “H₂ boil off”, H₂ embrittlement contributing to more than 20% H₂ loss for long distance transportation (>100 miles) and long-term storage (loss of ~ 0.5% H₂ per day). In my postdoctoral works at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I have been working to address these problems by electrochemical hydrogen pumps as an efficient H₂ separation device and proposing H₂ enriched Natural gas (10 vol% H₂) as the H₂ transport medium. I believe my previous joint experience in chemistry, materials science and electrochemical chemical engineering can provide fresh perspectives to the field and help tackle these challenges.

Teaching Interests

I am deeply committed to teaching and am keen on refining my skills through thorough preparation, engaging instruction, and ongoing self-reflection. I believe that there are two keys to teaching and mentoring; it is important to convey the fundamental scientific information (e.g. that experimental results can be explained in mathematical forms and vice versa), but teaching these fundamentals is most effective when mutual trust is established in the classroom and laboratory, because trust opens the gate for a free exchange of ideas through open conversation. As a professor, I will balance working through experimental observations (electrochemistry, chemical kinetics) with my students and then developing their critical thinking by navigating them through the origin of such observation in mathematical form and at the end posing questions about the possibilities (extreme conditions) in the experimental set-up.

I started working as a private tutor in high school and continued to work as a tutor and academic counselor through my undergraduate and graduate studies. This close one-on-one engagement with students who had a wide variety of interest, and skillsets motivated me to teach beyond the syllabus by inspiring innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. As a postdoctoral fellow, I was given the opportunity to mentor one Graduate student and six undergraduate students in a summer creative inquiry program, and I am delighted to report that two of them won NASA-REAP awards for their work, which they presented at conferences like AIChE and ACS meetings. Topics that I will be comfortable teaching are: Basic and Applied Electrochemistry, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Electrocatalysis Fundamentals, Energy (Sustainability & Environment)