Bin Liu Group
Electrode and Catalyst Design for Clean Energy Technologies
Electrochemical methods
Due to their high sensitivity and versatility, electrochemcial methods are most intensively employed in our research. With abundant electrochemical apparatus including Solartron, Autolab and CHI workstation, we can conduct various electrochemical tests such as voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Based on our understanding of interfacial reactions, we are also interested in developing electrochemical methods to solve challenging problems in electrocatalysis. For example, we have developed EIS as a facile method to detect the adsorbed intermediates in electrocatalysis.
In-situ characterization techniques
Taking electrocatalysis as an example, our group is particularly interested in developing in-situ characterization techniques to understand catalysis such as reaction pathways and catalytically active sites, including but not limited to in-situ grazing angle X-ray diffraction, synchrotron spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, near-atmospheric pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy and etc.
DFT simulation
Many valuable properties that are closely related to performance are very difficult to be measured experimentally. Taking electrocatalysis as an example, the intermediates involved in the catalytic cycle and their bonding strength on catalyst surface are critical information to understand reaction mechanism. However, directly obtaining such information from experiments is still very challenging. Therefore, we combine DFT simulation with experiments to gain insights into the elementary steps involved in electrocatalysis.