School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series Presents, “Electrocatalysts and Electrodes with Atomic Layer Deposition” Presented by Dr. Shicheng (John) Xu

About the event

Presented by
Dr. Shicheng (John) Xu, CEO & President, Jinetics Inc

Abstract
Polymer-electrolyte-membrane-based hydrogen fuel cell is a promising technology for sustainable powertrains of the future. Cathode, where the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction occurs, poses a significant performance limitation to the device performance. Improving electrical current density under the constraints of catalyst mass loading and electric potential involves highly active catalysts integrated wisely into the electrode structure. The talk will introduce a workflow of electrocatalysts design, fabrication, and integration with atomic layer deposition. Electrocatalysts designed based on the calculations on the atomic level and reaction pathways can be prototyped with this atomic level additive manufacturing technique. Significant performance benefits are seen. This workflow also allows a greater engineering space for streamlined testing of various catalysts, catalyst support, ionomer, and their resulting catalytic structures. These effects will be discussed.

Biography
Dr. Shicheng Xu received his doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and had led the Stanford-Volkswagen fuel cell project on high performance electrocatalysts and electrodes for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). His research focuses on electronic structures of catalytic systems, transport phenomena in fuel cells, and nanoscale additive technologies such as atomic layer deposition. His works have been published at Advanced Materials, Nature Catalysis, Science, PNAS, Nano Letters, etc.