Nina Chen is the first PhD student hired by the ANION consortium. She started her PhD research on February 1st at the University of Amsterdam, supervised by ANION members Amanda Garcia and Sander Woutersen. We asked Nina some questions about her background and plans.
My background is in electrochemistry. I completed my undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin, followed by a master’s in Chemistry for Energy and Sustainability at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit. For my undergraduate thesis, I investigated the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of organic materials, and for my master’s, I researched the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in organic solvents.
During my PhD I will be investigating the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) in organic solvents using various nanostructured and nanoporous electrodes and cation combinations.
CO2RR has often been cited as a potential route to sustainably produce materials for industry and fuels. However, selectivity and competition with the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) been a major hurdle in utilizing CO2RR for such purposes. Whilst the HER reaction is minimized by using organic solvents, selectivity is still an issue. Recently, research has shown that in organic solvents like acetonitrile, not only does the material of the electrode impact absorption of CO2 and selectivity of CO2RR products, but the chain length of the cation used has significant impact as well. By investigating various nanostructured and nanoporous electrodes and cations of varying lengths, I am hoping to gain a better understanding of how electrode materials and the chain length of cations impact CO2RR in organic solvent and hopefully find the optimal electrode-cation combination for strong CO2 absorption and CO2RR selectivity in organic solvent.
I am excited to be part of ANION! Because of ANION’s multidisciplinary approach to research, I expect to connect with experts in all fields of physics, chemistry, and materials science. I am looking forward to working with others from ANION to gain a better understanding of the fundamental concepts in electrochemistry, which will hopefully act as the building blocks to create efficient, sustainable electrochemical technologies.
