Area of research
Materials Chemistry · Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Research interest
Research topics from publications: Creation of an unexpected plane of enhanced covalency in cerium(III) and berkelium(III) terpyridyl complexes; A Single Source, Scalable Route for Direct Isolation of Earth-Abundant Nanometal Carbide Water-Splitting Electrocatalysts; Controlling Gold Morphology Using Electrodeposition for the Preparation of Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Sensors; Electrocatalytic activity and surface oxide reconstruction of bimetallic iron–cobalt nanocarbide electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction. Representative work: Abstract Controlling the properties of heavy element complexes, such as those containing berkelium, is challenging because relativistic effects, spin-orbit and ligand-field splitting, and complex metal-ligand bonding, all dictate the final electronic states of the molecules. While the first two of these are currently beyond experimental control, covalent M‒L interactions could theoretically be boosted through the employment of chelators with large polarizabilities that substantially shift the electron density in the molecules. This theory is tested by ligating Bk III with 4’-(4-nitrophenyl)-2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine (terpy*), a ligand with a large dipole. The resultant complex, Bk(terpy*)(NO 3 Single-phase MxCs (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) were prepared by solvothermal conversion of Prussian blue single source precursors. The single source precursor is prepared in water, and the conversion process is carried out in alkylamines at reaction temperatures above 200 °C. The reaction is scalable using a commercial source of Fe-PB. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron microscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction confirm that carbides have thin oxide termination but lack graphitic surfaces. Electrocatalytic activity reveals that Fe3C and Co2C are oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts, while Ni3C is a bifunctional [OER and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)] electr
Controlling Gold Morphology Using Electrodeposition for the Preparation of Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Sensors
Electrocatalytic activity and surface oxide reconstruction of bimetallic iron–cobalt nanocarbide electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction
A Single Source, Scalable Route for Direct Isolation of Earth-Abundant Nanometal Carbide Water-Splitting Electrocatalysts
Creation of an unexpected plane of enhanced covalency in cerium(III) and berkelium(III) terpyridyl complexes