Today was the last seminar of Lent term, and Part III student James Fidler presented his recent work on new catalyst materials for hydrogen production through electrolysis.
Nobel metals are very expensive, and so research is ongoing to find affordable alternatives for catalyst production. Under the supervision of professor Clarke, James has been investigating the properties of new metal-organic materials. These materials have a number of advantages: they don’t require binders to be applied to an electrode, and have low temperature synthesis properties.
During his time at the institute, James has worked to characterise the materials, and looked at their stability over time and over a range of pH conditions. In doing so, he has used a number of different laboratory techniques, including Powder X-Ray diffraction, SEM and TEM microscopy imaging, and Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy.
Our Thursday talks will resume after Easter at the beginning of term.