Elöd Gyenge
Professor
egyenge@chbe.ubc.ca
Home department: Chemical and Biological Engineering
Research Interests
- Electrochemical Engineering and Electrocatalysis
- Fuel Cells
- Batteries
- Electrosynthesis
- Porous Electrodes
- Interfacial Phenomena
- Engineering Education
Current Research Projects
- The commercial development of many electrochemical systems, including a variety of fuel cells, batteries and electrosynthesis processes, is hampered by kinetically sluggish electrode reactions. The mission of our research program is to discover and develop highly active, durable and cost-effective electrocatalysts and to integrate the catalyst with the electrode and cell design in order to develop high-performance electrochemical devices and processes. To accomplish our mission we deploy a multi-pronged approach combining novel electrocatalyst synthesis methods with fundamental electrochemical and surface science studies followed by electrode and cell engineering investigations and innovations. Systems of interest include: diverse fuel cells (H2, borohydride, methanol, formic acid), metal-air and novel redox flow batteries (e.g., using CO2), hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis, graphene electrochemical synthesis and applications, CO2-based power sources. The group is involved in extensive industrial and international research activities with collaborators from Japan, France, Germany and USA.
- Current research is focused on the following areas: a) Development of bifunctional / multifunctional electrodes for complex electrocatalytic reactions (e.g., CO2 reduction / formate oxidation, O2 reduction / evolution, etc.), b) Gas-diffusion electrode engineering, c) Electrocatalytic upgrading of biomass (specifically lignin derivatives), d) Halogen-based redox couples for flow batteries.