Importance of Advanced Diagnostics in Designing of Electrocatalytic Interfaces for Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage

One of the key reasons why the large-scale utilization of renewable energy is postponed, lies in unusually complex phenomena of energy conversion at electrified interfaces. Important example is water electrolysis for hydrogen production, where after many decades of research it is still not clear how to further accelerate electrocatalytic conversion process. The critical point for obtaining a conclusive picture about the dynamic mechanism of water electrolysis is to understand the nature of electrocatalytic activity. In this lecture will be addressed some important fundamental questions on what really governs electrocatalytic activity. Identifying these questions can be important driver towards efficient water electrolysis.

Dr. Aleksandar R. Zeradjanin is a group co-leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Mülheim an der Ruhr, He graduated Electrochemical Engineering in 2008 at University of Belgrade, Serbia and received his PhD in Electrochemistry in 2012 from the Ruhr-University Bochum with distinction (summa cum laude). As a senior scientist, he worked at: Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (FZ Jülich IEK¬-11), University of Bremen and Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, Düsseldorf with leading experts in the field of electrochemistry and energy conversion, covering broad range of topics (batteries, chlor-alkali technology, fuel cells, water electrolysis, CO2 reduction, corrosion etc).