“Interfacial Modifiers to Balance Ionomer/Water/Catalyst
Interactions in Electrochemical Energy Devices”
Joshua Snyder
Abstract
The growth and viability of deep decarbonization through the hydrogen economy is dependent upon scientific
advances that will address the existing political, regulatory, and technological barriers that currently hinder
electrochemical energy technologies. The strong correlation between device-level performance and catalytic
electrode activity/durability highlights the criticality of identifying the limiting processes and developing
strategies to address these limitations. While much of the development of electrode for electrochemical energy
and manufacturing technologies has focused on catalyst materials, the complexity of the interface between those
catalysts and the electrolyte and its role in defining reaction activity/selectivity provides opportunities for
improvements in reaction efficiency through targeted manipulation. However, we are currently limited by existing
knowledge gaps related to the structure of this interface and, most importantly, the true role of water and the
effects of solvation of adsorbed species. In this presentation I will highlight our group’s work on using molecular
interfacial modifiers to both study the influence of intentional manipulation of electrochemical interfacial
structure/composition and drive improvements for reaction efficiency. With these molecular interfacial additives,
we are able to exploit the interaction between surface adsorbed species and solvating components to drive
increased reaction rates and improved material durability for the oxygen reduction reaction, reversible hydrogen
electrocatalysis, and aromatic hydrogenation.
Monday, 9/16/2024 at 4:30 pm
CAMP 176
Joshua Snyder, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Drexel University, has been
working in the area of electrochemical energy storage and conversion, with specific emphasis on hydrogen
generation and utilization, for more than 20 years. He received his BS/MS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel
University in 2006 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2012. He was a
Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory from 2012-2014, working in the Materials
Science Department. He has been a professor at Drexel University since 2014 and was awarded the
Electrochemical Society’s Toyota Young Investigators Award in 2016 and NSF CAREER Award in 2020.