Dr. Ivan Moreno-Hernandez received a Bachelor of Science degree with University Honors in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Afterwards, Ivan continued his studies in Chemistry as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow with Prof. Nathan Lewis at the California Institute of Technology. Ivan focused on the study of semiconductor/metal-oxide heterojunctions for photoelectrochemical applications and on the discovery of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for anodic reactions in acidic electrolytes. Since 2019, Ivan has been a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos at the University of California, Berkeley and has worked on understanding and controlling the reactive chemical environment created during liquid cell electron microscopy experiments.
Symposium title:
Addressing renewable energy challenges through electrocatalyst discovery and in-situ nanoscale observations
Abstract:
Electrochemical technologies can couple renewable energy sources with our chemical infrastructure, thereby enabling sustainable energy practices. The implementation of these technologies will rely on both the discovery of new electrochemical materials with improved performance and the development of techniques to understand complex reaction dynamics at the nanoscale. We will first discuss the discovery of an earth-abundant class of electrocatalysts, crystalline transition metal antimonates, that are thermodynamically stable for anodic reactions in acidic electrolytes. Our discussion will then focus on the development of redox-mediated liquid cell electron microscopy, a technique that allows electrochemical reactions to be observed in real time at near-atomic resolution.