MPI Kolloquiumsreihe: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Michael H. Eikerling, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Electrochemical Energy Materials: Fast Forward with Theory and Computation

Das Max-Planck-Institut Magdeburg lädt Sie herzlich zu seiner öffentlichen Kolloquiumsreihe ein. Hochrangige WissenschaftlerInnen verschiedener Fachgebiete aus renommierten Forschungseinrichtungen aus Deutschland und weltweit präsentieren ihre Forschungsarbeit.

Hybride Veranstaltung: vor Ort im Großen Seminarraum "Prigogine" und per Zoom:

https://zoom.us/j/91681334483?pwd=T1lVd3JNWlNKWjFrSnd6SUtzbU9ZZz09
Meeting-ID: 916 8133 4483
Kenncode: 649791

Abstract

The ever-escalating demand for sustainable and environmentally benign energy technology drives research on electrochemical materials and systems. In this realm, theory, modeling, and simulation contribute increasingly powerful methods and tools to study how complex multifunctional materials come to life during self-organization, how they live and function, and how they age and fail because of wear and tear during their operational life. After providing an overview of our contributions to this field, my presentation will focus on frontier-type topics in theoretical electrocatalysis and the physical modeling at component and device levels. A recently developed theoretical-computational framework will be discussed that helps unravel the complex interplay of electronic structure effects of the catalyst material, potential-induced variations of the chemisorption state, local reaction conditions on the electrolyte side, and the kinetics of electrochemical reactions of interest. This framework has been exploited to decipher multistep reactions such as the oxygen reduction or evolution reactions, or to study how the local reaction environment dictates the mechanism and kinetics of CO2 reduction to CO at an Ag electrode. The second major part of the presentation will focus on forays in modelling that strive to unravel the intertwined impacts of ionomer and water on the distribution of reaction conditions and the overall performance of catalyst layers in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. As a final consideration, a CCL cannot be understood and optimized as a stand-alone component. Modeling approaches that account for the coupling of the corresponding local equilibria and transport phenomena across the whole cell, including polymer electrolyte membrane, catalyst layers, diffusion media and flow fields will be presented.

About the Speaker

Prof. Michael Eikerling received his Ph.D. in Physics from Technische Universität München in 1999. From 2003 to 2019, he was Professor of Theoretical Chemical Physics and Electrochemical Materials Science at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. In addition, between 2003 and 2013, he held a cross-appointment to the fuel cell institute of Canada’s National Research Council in Vancouver, BC, where he shaped a program in physical modeling of fuel cells.

In May 2019, he was appointed as Professor at RWTH Aachen University and Director at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) in Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, heading the Institute Section for Theory and Computation of Energy Materials (IEK-13). His research employs a wide spectrum of methods in physical theory and computation, to approach a diverse range of scientific challenges, from fundamental to applied topics. He contributes to: modeling transport phenomena at interfaces and in nanopores, theory and computation of electrocatalytic phenomena, studying self-organization in electrochemical materials, statistical physics of heterogeneous media, porous electrode theory, and modeling and diagnostics of electrochemical devices.

Dr. Eikerling has supervised > 70 highly qualified personnel, including 30 PhD students as well as 30 postdoctoral fellows and research associates. He has published over 170 journal articles (h-index 49 on google scholar), 8 book chapters and 1 textbook. In 2017, he was awarded the Alexander Kuznetsov Prize for Theoretical Electrochemistry of the International Society of Electrochemistry for his work in modeling polymer electrolyte fuel cells. He has directed or (co-)organized > 20 conferences, workshops and symposia and has served the electrochemical community in various roles (a.o., as topical editor of Electrocatalysis, SNG; editorial board member of Scientific Reports, SNG; chair of the Physical Electrochemistry division of ISE).