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SUMMARY:Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh
  look at some old catalysts and some new(er) catalysts for old application
 s - Dr Mark D. Symes\, University of Glasgow
DTSTART:20160927T130000Z
DTEND:20160927T140000Z
UID:TALK67892@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sharon Connor
DESCRIPTION:There has been much interest recently in electrocatalytic wate
 r splitting for storing intermit-tent renewably-generated power (e.g. sola
 r) as chemical fuels such as hydrogen. In this talk\, I will give an overv
 iew of the research in the Symes group that works towards the overall obje
 ctive of renewably-driven electrocatalytic water splitting. We shall exami
 ne electrocatalysis of both water oxidation and proton reduction at low pH
  using metastable cobalt-based catalyst films that exploit the natural pro
 pensity of the first row transition metals and their oxides to dissolve at
  low pH.1 Next\, we shall explore the role of trace impurities in the elec
 trolyte as a potential source of significant electrocatalytic activity for
  water oxidation and proton reduction and steps that can be taken to preve
 nt such adventitious contaminants from giving false positive results for e
 lectrocatalysis.2\,3 We will also examine ternary metal chalcogenides as h
 ighly active proton reduction catalysts\, touching on methods by which the
 se catalysts can be prepared and their electrochemical performance.4 \n\nI
 n the second half of the talk\, we shall move away from the low current de
 nsity conditions under which the systems above operate\, and instead we sh
 all investigate new device architectures for water splitting that operate 
 at much higher current densities (>100 mA cm‒-2). This new class of elec
 trolysers uses Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffers (ECPBs) as redox mediators\
 , allowing O2 and H2 production to be separated in both space and time.5\,
 6 The advantages of this approach for harnessing intermittent power source
 s will be explained\, before the potential benefits of using such a system
  in a more diffuse\, solar-driven hydrogen production platform are expound
 ed.7\n\nReferences\n1). L. G. Bloor\, P. I. Molina\, M. D. Symes\, L. Cron
 in\, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014\, 136\, 3304.\n2). I. Roger\, M. D. Symes\, J.
  Am. Chem. Soc. 2015\, 137\, 13980.\n3). I. Roger\, M. D. Symes\, Manuscri
 pt in preparation.\n4). I. Roger\, R. Moca\, H. N. Miras\, A. Y. Ganin\, M
 . D. Symes\, Submitted.\n5). M. D. Symes\, L. Cronin\, Nature Chem. 2013\,
  5\, 403.\n6). B. Rausch\, M. D. Symes\, G. Chisholm\, L. Cronin\, Science
 \, 2014\, 345\, 1326.\n7). L. G. Bloor\, R. Solarska\, K. Bienkowski\, P. 
 J. Kulesza\, J. Augustynski\, M. D. Symes\, L. Cronin\, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 
 2016\, 138\, 6707.\n
LOCATION:Unilever Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry
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