报告题目

Common challenges in electrochemistry: from the production of green hydrogen and ammonia to batteries and back

报告人

Prof. Ifan E. L. Stephens

报告人单位

Imperial College London, UK

报告时间

2026年4月3日（星期五）10:00

报告地点

近代物理楼609会议室

主办单位

精准智能化学全国重点实验室

报告摘要

Electrochemistry will play a pivotal role in our transition away from fossil fuels to a net zero society. While batteries and fuel cells are set to decarbonise transportation, electrolysers can enable the sustainable synthesis of our most coveted chemicals, such as H₂ and NH₃. It turns out that some of the reactions that we aim to accelerate in water electrolysis, such as H₂evolution, are exactly the reactions that we wish to inhibit in Li ion batteries and during N₂ reduction. To that end, in our group we translate techniques and insight from electrosynthesis to battery science and vice versa.

I will present our mechanistic studies on the electrocatalysis of (i) O₂ evolution for water electrolysis on iridium based oxides and (ii) N₂ reduction to NH₃ in organic electrolytes (iii) parasitic gas evolution in Li ion batteries.

Our studies incorporate electrochemical measurements, electrochemical mass spectrometry, operando optical spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, in situ optical microscopy, cryo electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory; using the combination of these techniques, we build a holistic picture of the factors controlling these technologically critical reactions.

报告人简介

Ifan Stephens is a Professor in Electrochemistry at the Department of Materials at Imperial College London. His group’s research aims to enable the large-scale electrochemical conversion of renewable energy to fuels and valuable chemicals and vice versa. Such processes will be critical in order to allow the increased uptake of renewable energy.

Ifan has published >160 papers on topics including oxygen reduction, oxygen evolution, CO₂ reduction, nitrogen reduction and battery degradation.  Stephens is the recipient of several awards including the Peabody Visiting Associate Professorship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2015), European Research Council Consolidator Grant (2021), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)’s John Jeyes Award for his collaborative work on hydrogen peroxide production (2021), the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher list (2022 onwards) the RSC’s Geoffrey Barker Medal (2024) and the John Meurig Thomas Medal from the UK Catalysis Hub (2026). Ifan’s research on H2O2 electrosynthesis led to the establishment of the spinout HPNow, which he co-founded; it has raised over €30 million in funding and now sells electrolysers in 20 countries.