Professor Kelsey Stoerzinger

Professor Kelsey Stoerzinger
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science 
University of Minnesota

Implications of competitive adsorption and cation effects in electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate

Fertilizer use and fossil-fuel combustion has increased nitrate concentrations in many wastewaters and watersheds to levels that threaten environmental and human health. Consequently, treatment of nitrate-contaminated water is a growing area of energy consumption. Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (NO3RR) offers a distributable treatment solution also capable of producing value-added products (e.g. ammonium), using electrons as a reducing agent at ambient temperatures and pressures. However, nitrate reduction occurs at similar electrochemical potentials to water reduction, under conditions where the surface is considered negatively charged. Here we share how the competitive adsorption of nitrate and hydrogen (protons), governed by catalyst electronic structure, influences Faradaic efficiency and selectivity. We will further consider how the identity of alkali cations in the electrolyte influence the kinetic rate of reaction and aspects of reactant transport to the catalyst surface, shedding light on the complex NO3RR reaction mechanism.

Kelsey A. Stoerzinger

Dr. Kelsey A. Stoerzinger is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. Stoerzinger started her career in 2018 at Oregon State University with a joint appointment at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she was previously a Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow. She completed her doctoral studies in Materials Science and Engineering in 2016 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prof. Stoerzinger is the recipient numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER and DOE Early Career, and 2025 ACS Marks-Ipatieff Award in Catalysis. 

Hosted by Professor Wayne Gladfelter