Dec 11, 2011 ... In his book Golem XIV Stanislav Lem let the computer Golem XIV say these
words in a lecture about himself. This quote describes nicely how ...
Newsletter
No. 11 Dec 2011
Electrocatalysis: Present and future – a well attended ELCAT Conference in Alicante
T
he conference on electrocatalysis, organised by the Alicante node of the ELCAT Training Network, took place on 14-17th November 2011 in Alicante, Spain. The lectures and posters dealt with the different electrocatalytic reactions that are currently at the centre of developments in Electrochemistry such as oxygen/hydrogen reduction and evolution, reduction and oxidation of small molecules, nitrate and carbon dioxide reduction. The impact of this research is recognised being of fundamental importance in energy generation and storage. But as professor Juan Feliú indicated: “The scope of Electrocatalysis, however, is not only related to fuel cells and small organic molecules but comprises a much broader field in which the interplay between molecules and surfaces has to be considered.” These questions and a vision of possible future developments were presented in an exciting lecture by Nenad Markovic. Many young researchers The lectures were organised to include keynote speakers to set the scene followed by presentations from young researchers. The scope of the communications covered both theoretical and experimental approaches to Electrocatalysis. Studies on a wide variety of reactions, including those related to fuel cells and of importance from an environmental point of view and for different electrode materials (metal, alloys, oxides, molecular ensembles) were presented. As is common in all ELCAT activities,
Some of the participants and speakers at the ELCAT conference in Alicante, november 2011.
A lecture by ELCAT fellow Matteo Duca.
The poster session was well visited.
the meeting included a session to present new advanced areas of research. In this case, the topic chosen was biologically inspired electrocatalytic reactions, with three lectures dealing with the structure and function of the reaction centre in photosynthetic organisms (Per Siegbahn), electron transfer to metalloenzymes ( Jens Ulstrup) and reaction kinetics of hydrogenases (Victor Climent). Delegates from 25 countries The meeting was very well attended, with 132 delegates from 25 countries who participated enthusiastically in the discussion periods between sessions. The poster session attracted 64 posters. It was held in the open and the Mediterranean sunshine provided an appropriate background to very lively discussions. ►
ELCAT Newsletter # 11 / December 2011
Poster competition at the ELCAT conference At the poster session of the ELCAT conference in Alicante ISE Division 7 (Physical Electrochemistry) sponsored three prizes, of €400 each, which were awarded to the best posters presented. The awardees were Patricia Henrández-Fernandez, Technical University of Denmark, for the poster entitled “Well characterized PtxY nanoparticles as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction”, Ana M. Gómez-Marín , Universidad de Alicante, for the poster entitled “Temperature Dependence of Electrochemical Oxidation of Pt(111) vicinal surfaces” and Ulmas Zhumae, University of Bern, for the poster entitled “ATR-SEIRAS study of ions effect on the interfacial water structure”.
The poster session at the ELCAT conference in Alicante attracted a lot of attention, above is the winning poster.
Experiment needs theory and theory needs experiment “Cogito ergo EST – I think and thus the idea becomes reality” In his book Golem XIV Stanislav Lem let the computer Golem XIV say these words in a lecture about himself. This quote describes nicely how science should work. At the beginning there is always an idea and a set of prejudices leading to a first hypothesis of how things might work. This hypothesis is improved until self-consistency is reached. At this point the refined idea becomes a part of the researcher’s reality. This reality might still be far from the reality defined by nature, but its worth lies in the understanding gained and the ability to make predictions based on the hypothesis. These basic mechanisms of gaining knowledge are to a large extent similar for experimentalists and theoretical chemists, but the methods of gaining knowledge are not. Experimentalists have the privilege to ask nature directly by performing a suitable experiment, which indeed can be difficult to design. The obtained answer might be hard to extract from the experimental results or might in the worst case even belong to a totally different question, but it is a correct answer within the
Michael Busch – a personal view – limitations of the experiment. Theoreticians on the other hand are limited to very approximative procedures for asking nature a question, e.g. approximative procedures to solve the Schrödinger equation. These methods are generally limited to rather small systems. Thus, the obtained answer is necessarily ambiguous due to possibly incomplete models and uncertainties in how the answers are obtained, the question nevertheless is distinct.
The price for asking a question is relatively small compared to experiment. In this sense these two approaches are complementary and a combination of both should be very fertile. While the theoretician can easily scout and test new ideas thus bringing them into the researchers reality, the experimentalist can a lot easier confirm or disprove this new reality. Although this approach could be very fertile it is often made difficult by different languages used in both approaches. In ELCAT a close collaboration between experimentalists and theoreticians has been implemented from the beginning. This close connection between theory and experiment allows me, a PhD student in theoretical chemistry, to better understand the experimentalist’s language and problems. It gives me the tools to collaborate and communicate better with the complementary experimental side. December 2011
Michael Busch is an Early Stage Researcher from Germany within the ELCAT Network. He is doing research at the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden.
ELCAT Newsletter # 11 / December 2011
Industrial electrochemistry – How to Survive and Prosper in a Competitive World ELCAT 7th Training Event in Reading, UK, 25-27th January 2012 Continuing with the successful series of training courses in electrocatalysis, Johnson Matthey ( JM) is organising the next training activity of the ELCAT Network, on industrial electrochemistry. As it has been usual in these activities, this two-day course will include lectures on scientific and technological topics such as energy storage, energy photoconversion and electrochemistry on a large scale as well as general topics of importance for the professional development of young researchers. The main emphasis, however, will be on the latter, including the development of spin-out and start-up companies based on research results, scaling up of industrial processes and collaboration
ELCAT will discuss sources of research funding and how to submit a successful research proposal. The training event is open to participants outside ELCAT. Further details and how to apply to attend this training course can be found in the ELCAT Website. Johnson Matthey is situated in lovely surroundings in Reading, UK.
between industry and academia. A special workshop has been organised by JM on the process of innovation and on how business ideas are developed into industrial application. Finally, experienced researchers from
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Register to ELCAT 7th Training School: Industrial electrochemistry - how to survive and prosper in a competitive world! h t t p : / / w w w. e l c a t . o r g . g u . s e / Training/new-training-course/
Single atom “hot” spots on the surface of Pd-Au nanoalloys fortunately do not give you water Science News Great efforts, both in theoretical and experiential studies, have been dedicated to predict or indeed, enhance particular reaction channels for complex electrocatalytic reactions, in particular, when these are carried out on nanoalloys. These questions are important not only for a fundamental understanding of the properties of electrocatalytic surfaces but importantly, for practical applications, for instance in the co-generation of chemicals and energy. 1 A very successful collaboration between ELCAT scientists from Gothenburg and Liverpool, involving also the Solvay chemical company, has demonstrated how to direct the reduction of oxygen to produce mainly hydrogen peroxide employing Pd-Au nanoalloys. 2 This work is an example of the predictive power of quantum chemical calculations
to guide experimentation and how the principles under which ELCAT was proposed and funded on collaborative research can yield valuable new ideas. The Figure shows the observed large dependence of the yield of peroxide on Pd concentration on the nanoparticles. The reduction mechanism involves the participation of individual Pd atoms on the alloy surface (the “hot” spots where O2 coordination is end-on) as individual reaction centres. Importantly, when the Pd concentration is increased, the reaction channel switches to involve at least two vicinal Pd atoms leading to a μ-peroxo coordination and hence, to an increase in the full 4 e- reduction mechanism to produce water. The research demonstrates that electrocatalytic properties are tuned by the surface concentration of the alloy components, in this case, to produce hydrogen peroxide.
Figure. Dependence of the yield of hydrogen peroxide for O2 reduction on the mol fraction of Pd in carbon supported Pd-Au nanoalloys in 0.1 M HClO4.
This work attracted the attention of one of the Editors of Science, who selected this paper as an Editor’s Choice feature (Electrifying Peroxide Synthesis). 3 1 http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue17/fuelcells.html 2 Jakub S. Jirkovský, Itai Panas, Elisabet Ahlberg, Matej Halasa, Simon Romani, David J. Schiffrin, J. Am.. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133 (48), pp 19432-19441 3 Jake Yeston, Science, (December 9th Isssue), 2011, 334, 1324
Newsletter editor: David J Schiffrin University of Liverpool
[email protected]
ELCAT (Surface Electrochemical Reactivity in Electrocatalysis: A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Approach) is a multisite Initial Training Network within the EU Seventh Framework Programme (The People Programme).
