CBE Seminar: “Value-added Transformations in Electrocatalysis and Graduate Education” (Maureen Tang, Drexel University)

Electrifying the chemical industry has been much touted as a path to a low-carbon future, but nearly all pathways of interest are electrochemical reductions. If we want water-to-hydrogen, CO2-to-chemicals, or nitrogen-to-ammonia, from where will we get the electrons? Water-to-oxygen is thermodynamically expensive, kinetically slow, and generates a zero-value product. This talk will discuss two potential avenues of investigation for value-added electron-holes. In the first, we seek to determine the mechanism of six-electron water oxidation to ozone. We discuss our efforts to identify intermediates, understand the role of dopants, and deconvolute catalysis from corrosion in electrochemical ozone production. In the second, we investigate the feasibility of electrocatalytic cyclohexane oxidation. Our results show that molecular oxygen, not water, is the primary oxygen source, with implications for radical intermediates. We furthermore demonstrate the impact of cross-over in these systems and point to the importance of electrochemical reactor design in lab-scale studies. In the final part of this talk, I will discuss non-technical limitations to the aforementioned approach. I will incorporate advances in behavioral economics and organizational behavior into a novel mentoring activity for PhD students while exploring themes of scarcity and abundance in the modern university.