Beyond Functional Materials Lab.

Beyond Catalysts: Dynamic Electrochemical Interfaces for Electrochemical Refineries

Electrochemical systems offer a powerful platform for converting renewable electricity and abundant feedstocks into hydrogen, fuels, and value-added chemicals. However, practical performance is not governed by catalysts alone. Dynamic electrochemical interfaces—where catalyst states, wettability, molecular adsorption, ion transport, and multiphase mass transfer continuously evolve—often determine reaction pathways, efficiency, selectivity, and long-term stability.

Our research therefore integrates catalyst design, dynamic interface engineering, and system-level validation across multiple length scales. Rather than treating catalysts, interfaces, and devices as separate problems, we seek to understand and engineer their interactions to establish transferable design principles for practical electrochemical synthesis.

Ultimately, our goal is to develop electrochemical refineries that efficiently transform water, CO2, biomass, and waste feedstocks into hydrogen, fuels, and chemicals using renewable electricity.

* Research Themes

1. Catalyst and Molecular Design

We design catalytic materials and molecular systems that control the elementary reaction pathways of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical transformations. Rather than pursuing activity alone, we seek to understand and manipulate redox states, adsorption energetics, reaction intermediates, and catalyst–electrolyte interactions to achieve selective and energy-efficient chemical conversion.

Our research includes:

Electrocatalysts for water electrolysis
Development of earth-abundant and durable catalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution, with particular interest in catalyst reconstruction and stabilization under operating conditions.
Catalysts for CO2 conversion
Molecular and heterogeneous catalysts for selective conversion of CO2 into fuels and value-added chemicals.
Alternative anodic and cathodic reactions
Catalytic pathways that replace conventional electrode reactions with thermodynamically or kinetically favorable chemical transformations.
Molecular and polymeric interface modifiers
Organic molecules, polymers, and functional ligands that regulate catalyst surface states, adsorption environments, and reaction selectivity.
Redox-active molecular materials
Polyoxometalates and related molecular redox systems for catalytic reactions, charge mediation, and electrochemical energy conversion.

2. Dynamic Interfaces and Microenvironments

Electrochemical reactions occur at interfaces that continuously change during operation. We investigate how wettability, interfacial water, local ion distributions, gas–liquid transport, molecular adsorption, and surface reconstruction collectively determine electrochemical behavior. Our goal is to deliberately engineer these dynamic environments rather than treating them as passive consequences of catalyst operation.

Our research includes:

Wettability engineering, bubble and gas management, and gas–liquid–solid interfaces
Tailoring hydrophilic, hydrophobic, aerophilic, and aerophobic interfaces to regulate multiphase electrochemical reactions via controlling bubble nucleation, growth, transport, and detachment and stabilizing reaction environments for gas-consuming and gas-evolving reactions, including CO2 reduction and water electrolysis.
Interfacial water and ionic environments
Understanding how surface chemistry, electric fields, and local solvation structures influence reaction kinetics and selectivity.
Polymer and ionomer interfaces
Designing polymeric microenvironments that regulate ion transport, catalyst states, reactant accessibility, and product selectivity.
Interfacial stability and degradation
Suppressing flooding, scaling, gas crossover, catalyst reconstruction, and other dynamic processes that limit long-term operation.

3. Electrochemical Systems and Device Engineering

Catalyst performance measured under idealized conditions does not necessarily translate into practical devices. We therefore integrate catalytic and interfacial concepts into electrodes, membranes, porous transport structures, and complete electrochemical cells. We study how reaction kinetics interact with ionic transport, mass transfer, gas evolution, and cell architecture across multiple length scales.

Our research includes:

Porous electrodes and transport layers
Engineering pore structure, surface chemistry, and wettability for effective transport of gases, liquids, ions, and electrons.
Multiphase transport and reaction engineering
Understanding coupled kinetic, ohmic, and mass-transport limitations in practical electrochemical devices.
Device-level validation
Translating materials and interface concepts from laboratory measurements to membrane-electrode assemblies, flow cells, and scalable electrochemical systems.

* Application Areas

These research themes converge on three major application areas:

Water → Hydrogen

We develop materials and interfaces for efficient and durable water electrolysis, with particular emphasis on catalyst stability, bubble management, porous transport layers, membranes, and alternative electrode reactions that reduce the energy demand of hydrogen production.

CO2 → Fuels and Chemicals

We explore molecular, catalytic, and interfacial strategies for controlling CO2 reduction pathways and product selectivity. Particular emphasis is placed on catalyst surface states, local reaction environments, gas transport, and electrode architecture.

Biomass and Waste → Value-Added Products

We develop electrochemical and hybrid pathways to convert renewable biomass and waste materials into useful molecules while reducing the energetic burden of conventional electrolysis.