Materials chemistry in electrocatalysis for energy applications

Educational objectives: Due to the parallel exercises in which important recent publications on catalyst synthesis, characterization and applications are evaluated, the students become experts in the field of materials development for electrocatalysis. They will be able to perform a qualified evaluation of related publications/proposals etc.. In addition to this, they learn how to present research results. For their own work, the students are able to decide on their own, which Short description In this lecture, we will discuss the most important synthesis strategies for electrocatalysts, important techniques for their characterization and electrochemical evaluation. On the basis of a profound structural and electrochemical characterization, structure activity correlations can be made to get further insights which parameters affect the catalytic activity. Therefore, this process of data analysis is of particular interest for the development and optimization of new electrocatalysts. The selected examples focus on energy applications as e.g. fuel cells and water electrolysis. Topics: Electrocatalysis (Introduction, Fundamentals, Reaction mechanisms) Catalyst synthesis (Preparation of nanoparticles, Thin films, New and innovative catalyst concepts) Characterization (Selected spectroscopic and analytical methods, In-situ and post-mortem characterization) Important Parameters for catalyst application (Activity, Selectivity, Stability) Applications (Different types of fuel cells, water splitting reactions, and others)characterization techniques are most suited for the one or other types of catalyst as also the main aspects for each of the characterization methods will be discussed.