Joaquin Rodríguez López, an associate professor of chemistry, will present "Everything, everywhere, all at once: Decoupling (and embracing) the complexity of (electro)chemical processes at electrified interfaces" at the Beckman Institute Director's Seminar at noon on Thursday, Feb. 2 in 1005 Beckman and on Zoom. Lunch will be provided.
Registration is required to attend.
"Everything, everywhere, all at once: Decoupling (and embracing) the complexity of (electro)chemical processes at electrified interfaces"
Just as Wolfgang Pauli expressed that “God made the bulk; the surface was invented by the devil,” electrochemical interfaces composed of solid surfaces in a solution under an electric field undergoing a variety of (electro)chemical reactions present a true analytical challenge. Nonetheless, elucidating and controlling interfacial reactivity is key to a broad scope of studies of catalysts, sensors, and energy storage media needed to face the energy and environmental challenges of this century. I will present our unique take at this problem by introducing studies using scanning electrochemical microscopy, or SECM, a scanned probe technique capable of delivering high spatiotemporal and chemical redox resolution at active surfaces. SECM uses an electrochemical probe to detect and quantify species (e.g., discharged products, homogeneous and heterogeneous intermediates) and the kinetics of processes (e.g., heterogeneous rate constants) through the use of highly localized electrochemical techniques deployed by such probe. Such in situ approaches give us insight regarding the reactivity of individual reacting sites at electrode surfaces, including their evolution during operation, and enable the construction of sensible structure-function correlations and electroanalytical models.
In my talk, I will focus on three case studies of broad interest to the Beckman community: 1) the development of multi-modal probes and techniques to isolate reaction components (redox, ionic, surface, and solution processes); 2) the use of new concepts of electrostatics to drive redox-less chemical transformations; and 3) embracing the complexity of interfaces through the use of high-throughput electrochemical instrumentation. I hope this talk will create new opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary work.
Joaquín Rodríguez-López is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His group combines interests in electroanalytical chemistry and energy materials by developing chemically sensitive methods for studying ionic and electronic reactivity in nanostructures, highly localized surface features, and ultra-thin electrodes. Recognition for Rodríguez-López's work has come through awards such as the Zhaowu Tian Prize for Energy Electrochemistry by the International Society of Electrochemistry in 2021; The Arthur Findeis Award for Achievements by a Young Analytical Scientist by the ACS DAC in 2020; the Society of Electroanalytical Chemistry Royce W. Murray Young Investigator Award in 2017; a Toyota-Electrochemical Society Young Investigator Fellowship in 2017; the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2016; and the East Central Illinois ACS Chapter Distinguished Service Award in 2016, amongst other awards. The group of his work has been highlighted in the media by The Analytical Scientist as a 40-under-40 investigator in 2022 and by Science News 10 Scientists to Watch in 2018.
Rodríguez-López is a recognized leader in electroanalysis, summing over 100 invited national and international presentations, over 100 publications and book chapters, leadership within the DOE JCESR Energy Hub and a thriving electrochemical program that gives back through educational activities such as his staple “Electrochemistry Bootcamp” organized at UIUC and which teaches laboratory skills to broad audiences.
