CEMS researchers lead $5M federal grant to design electrocatalysts

A team led by University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science researchers has received $5 million over three years from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a new Science Foundations for the Energy Earthshots team, entitled “Molecular and Atomic EngineeRing of Interfacial Electro-catalytic Environments (MARIE)”.

The team will bring together engineers and scientists from the UMN Twin Cities (Stoerzinger, Jalan, Neurock) and Morris (Pappenfus) campuses, along with the University of Oregon and Queens University to develop strategies to control chemical reactions at the level of the atoms and charge carriers (electrons) that comprise them.

The MARIE foundational basic-science effort underlies advanced electrochemical hydrogen production, electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to value-added products, long-duration electrochemical energy storage, and electrifying-metal-production EarthShot goals.

"Financial support by the U.S. Department of Energy for MARIE will enable a new approach to control the reaction environment beyond the active site through a convergence of traditional approaches in the catalysis community,” said Kelsey Stoerzinger, the principal investigator and associate professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

The award is part of a $264 million initiative by the DOE to advance clean energy technologies within the decade.

Read more about the DOE Office of Science Energy Earthshots here.