Electrocatalysis for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals

Modern society relies on large-scale chemical processes for producing fuels and chemicals that drive many key sectors, including transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing, among others. To date, fossil resources have served as the primary feedstock and provided the vast majority of the energy demanded by the global economy. There are many challenges to the current paradigm, as modern processes are generally not sustainable, and while they provide for billions, there are billions of others who have minimal access to the modern energy system.

This talk describes efforts to enable a future paradigm involving sustainable chemical processes for producing fuels and chemicals based on renewable resources. Examples include hydrogen (H₂) production from water, CO₂ conversion to carbon-based fuels and chemicals, and ammonia production from N₂ and/or nitrate.

A key focus of this webinar is the fundamental design and development of catalyst systems that can execute desired chemical transformations with high activity, selectivity, and durability, plus the integration of such catalysts into devices that can achieve high-performance, paving the path ahead for new, sustainable technologies.

An interactive Q&A session follows the presentation.

Thomas Francisco Jaramillo is an associate professor of chemical engineering and of energy science engineering at Stanford University, along with a faculty appointment in Photon Science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He serves as director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, a joint partnership between Stanford and SLAC. Prof. Jaramillo’s research efforts are aimed at developing catalyst materials and new processes to improve sustainability in the energy and chemical sectors. A key emphasis is engineering catalyst materials at the nano- and atomic-scale to induce desired properties, and then on designing and developing new technologies that employ them. Examples include electrified processes to convert water, N₂, and CO₂ into valuable molecular products such as hydrogen (H₂), ammonia-based fertilizers, and carbon-based products (e.g. fuels, plastics) for use in transportation, agriculture, energy storage, and in the chemical industry, among others. The overarching theme is the development of cost-effective, clean energy technologies that can benefit society and provide for economic growth in a sustainable manner.

Thomas has authored more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed literature in these areas. His efforts have earned him a number of honours and awards including the 2021 Paul H Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis from the North American Catalysis Society; the 2014 Resonate Award from the Resnick Institute; 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers; 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Program Research & Development Award; 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award; and 2009 Mohr-Davidow Ventures Innovator Award. He is on the annual list of Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics, ranking in the top 1% by citations (2018–present).

Thomas is from Carolina, Puerto Rico, earning a BS in chemical engineering at Stanford University and MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He then pursued post-doctoral research as the Hans Christian Ørsted Postdoctoral Fellow at the Technical University of Denmark, Department of Physics, prior to joining the Stanford faculty.