题目：Energy Catalysis: From Overall Water Splitting to Biomass Upgrading and Nitrogen Reduction
主讲简介：孙宇杰，Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Utah State University。Yujie Sun received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Fudan University in 2005 and conducted undergraduate research under the tutelage of Prof. Heyong He. He then pursued graduate studies in inorganic photochemistry with Prof. Claudia Turro at The Ohio State University and was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 2010. Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. Christopher J. Chang at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working on electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In 2013, Yujie started his independent career as an assistant professor at Utah State University and received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in 2015 and the NSF CAREER Award in 2017. His group is interested in developing and understanding inexpensive materials and complexes for energy catalysis and biomedical applications.
主讲内容：One of the challenges to realize large-scale water splitting is the lack of active and low-cost electrocatalysts for its two half reactions: H2 and O2 evolution reactions (HER and OER). Our group is interested in developing earth-abundant materials as bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting under alkaline and neutral conditions. In addition, since OER is always the rate-limiting step of water splitting and the product of OER, O2, is not a product of high value, it is highly desirable to replace OER with alternative organic oxidation reactions that will yield value-added products as well. The second part of my talk will focus on our recent efforts in coupling HER with biomass upgrading to produce two types of valuable products (H2 and bioproducts) on both electrodes, maximizing the energy conversion efficiency and circumventing the potential H2/O2 mixing issue in water splitting electrolyzers.
