CERC Seminar – October 2023
Innovating at Interfaces: Enhancing the Performance
and Longevity of Sustainable Energy Systems
October 10, 2023 @ 11:00 AM
Abstract
Interfaces are ubiquitous, and bottlenecks to performance and longevity in sustainable energy systems often occur due to interfacial interactions. These include both electrochemical reactions (e.g., evolution of methane during CO2 electroreduction) and physical interactions (e.g., phase change, crystallization, stiction of bubbles), occurring at distinct length-scales and timescales. Deciphering and controlling mechanisms underlying these interactions is critical to designing improved and long-lasting sustainable energy and chemical generation systems. In this talk, interfacial engineering methods to enhance the rate and selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2 conversion, and control detrimental processes such as soot accumulation in biomass combustors will be introduced. A special class of ceramics comprising the lanthanide series rare-earth oxides (REOs) will be discussed for their potential in enhancing the longevity of sustainable energy systems by repelling water and scale formation.
Biography
Dr. Sami Khan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering at Simon Fraser University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2020. At SFU, Dr. Khan leads the Engineered Interfaces for Sustainable Energy (EISEn) group, which aims to improve the performance and longevity of sustainable energy systems by fundamentally understanding and tuning electro-chemo-physical interactions at interfaces, with a particular focus on enhancing CO2 capture and conversion processes. Dr. Khan is an expert in coatings that reduce fouling, corrosion and hydrogen ingress, especially in harsh environments, with a full US patent granted and licensed and three provisional patents recently filed. He has previously worked in the rare-earth mining industry in Canada and was a Science and Technology Advisor to the Chief Scientist of Natural Resources Canada. He is the recipient of many awards including the Action Canada Fellowship (2021) and the Marcel Pourbaix Award for Best Poster in Corrosion Science (received at the NACE international CORROSION conference in 2019).