Room: W3 3-363

Phone: +49441 798 3829

Email:

Research field:

• Alkaline water electrolysis
• Development of spin-polarised and chiral selective electrocatalysts for the OER
• Physical characterisation: XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, mc-AFM, Raman, ICP-OES ...
• Electrochemical characterisation of electrocatalysts

PhD Thesis:

Title: Spin-polarized and chiral selective electrocatalysts for the OER in alkaline water electrolysis

The aim of this PhD thesis is to synthesize first row transition metal based electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline water electrolysis. Besides the utilization of combining different metals to create multi-metal systems, unconventional methods such as the use of spin-polarised and chiral-selective catalysts represent a novel approach to developing electrocatalysts, which have the potential to achieve improved conversion efficiency. The water electrolysis process is distinguished by a spin-unbalanced reaction, wherein the reactants are in the singlet configuration with no unpaired electrons, while the products are in the triplet configuration with two unpaired electrons. Theoretical studies have postulated that the high energy input is derived from the spin restrictions. When electrons move along a chiral molecule, they interact with the molecule's electrostatic potential and the inherent magnetic field generated by the molecule. This phenomenon is referred to as "chiral-induced spin selectivity" (CISS), and it plays a crucial role in the process of screening the spins of electrons, leading to the generation of a spin-polarised current. The spin-polarized catalysts are characterized physically by XRD, SEM, XPS, or Raman spectroscopy, as well as by established electrochemical analysis procedures. The precise determination of the spin polarisation can be achieved through the utilization of mc-AFM and circular dichroism.