PhD defense: Qiuhua Liang

DIFFER PhD researcher Qiuhua Liang will defend her thesis First-principles study of electrode materials for oxygen evolution.

Short introduction to the thesis
Electrochemical water splitting is regarded as a promising way for converting renewable energy into hydrogen fuel, if electrical energy is provided using solar power. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting is complicated because it is a four-electron transfer reaction, which generally takes four reaction steps. The efficiency of the OER relies heavily on the anode material, the active sites at its surface in particular. The best performing electrodes today are based upon materials that involve transition metals from the platinum group, such as RuO2, which, considering their cost, have a limited commercial viability. In this thesis some alternatives are studied, based upon materials from main group elements, doped with 3d transition-metals, which are semiconducting with an eye on applications in photo-electrochemical water splitting. In addition, RuO₂ is studied in detail to investigate the basis of its success for the OER. The thesis uses density functional theory calculations throughout to explore how the active sites on the electrodes’ surfaces affects the OER activity.

Defense
Follow the ceremony online from 13:00. Public link – PhD defense

More about the work of Qiuhua Liang
Finding better electrodes for sustainable water splitting