Event
ChBE Seminar: Catalyst Research for Hydrogen Economy-Related Electrochemical Reactions
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
11:00 a.m.
0408 ANS (Animal Sciences) UMD College Park
Taylor Woehl
tjwoehl@umd.edu
https://chbe.umd.edu/seminar-series
Speaker: Zhenmeng Peng, Professor of Chemical, Biomolecular & Corrosion Engineering, University of Akron
Title: Catalyst Research for Hydrogen Economy-Related Electrochemical Reactions
Abstract:
The concerns of fossil fuels depletion and environmental issues have driven considerable research activities into developing renewable and clean energy technologies that can sustain the societal needs in the long run. Hydrogen, with a high density of chemical energy in the molecules and with water being the only combustion product, is an appealing energy carrier that can potentially replace fossil fuels in the development of a clean, sustainable hydrogen economy. This would resolve environmental problems caused by the combustion of the non-renewable resources and meanwhile meet the rising demand for energy. To develop hydrogen economy, energy-efficient and cost-effective H2 production from renewable energy, storage, and utilization for energy generation are required to complete the chemical loop. Several key technologies, including water electrolysis for H2 production and H2 fuel cell for energy generation, have been developed with great application potentials. However, development of active and stable catalyst materials for the involved electrochemical reactions, specifically oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), remained a challenging task. Moreover, H2 storage remained a major roadblock in the hydrogen economy development. In this talk I will briefly introduce current progresses in water electrolysis, H2 storage and fuel cell technologies. I will mainly report some research efforts on these topics in my lab, with focuses on catalyst research for ORR and OER processes and development of an electrochemical H2 storage method.
Bio：
Dr. Zhenmeng Peng is a Professor in Department of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering, College of Engineering and Polymer Science, at the University of Akron, Ohio. Prior to joining the department in fall 2012, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at Berkeley (with Dr. Alexis Bell) for two years. He pursued his graduate study at University of Rochester (with Dr. Hong Yang) and received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering in 2010. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Material Science in 2002 and 2005 at University of Science and Technology of China. His current research interests mainly focus on catalysis for energy-related chemical and electrochemical reactions and electrochemical engineering. Till to date, Dr. Peng has published >100 research articles and book chapters that received a total of >8,000 citations and H-index of 41.
