Zachary Schiffer (Caltech)
The chemical industry traditionally uses pressure and temperature to drive chemical transformations, and the energy and feedstocks generally come from fossil fuels. However, as renewable electricity becomes increasingly accessible, it is attractive to consider driving these chemical reactions using an applied voltage and sustainable feedstocks. In this talk, I will first look at the broad question of how to compare electrochemical routes with traditional thermochemical routes for driving chemical reactions. Second, I will discuss how electrochemistry can enable access to renewable carbon feedstocks, such as carbon dioxide, by using voltage to separate carbon dioxide from ocean water. Third, I will discuss ammonia activation, demonstrating how voltage can both help to form new carbon-nitrogen bonds as well as enable new ammonia-based, renewable energy storage paradigms. Overall, I will start with the broad question of why and when to use voltage in the chemical industry, and then I will focus on how electrochemistry can aid processes such as carbon dioxide capture and ammonia utilization.
Zachary Schiffer is currently a Resnick Sustainability Postdoctoral Scholar with Prof. Harry Atwater at Caltech, where his research focuses on electrochemical carbon capture from seawater and photocatalytic nitrogen reduction. He completed his Ph.D. in Fall 2021 as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow with Prof. Karthish Manthiram in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering. His graduate thesis work focused broadly on exploring electrification and decarbonization routes for industrial chemical processes, with a focus on the development of electrochemical routes for ambient-condition nitrogen cycle reactions. In general, his research combines fundamental thermodynamics, kinetic analysis techniques, computational chemistry, and materials synthesis to explore sustainable electrochemical systems. Before his Ph.D., he completed a B.S.E. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, performing his senior thesis work on the mechanics of Li-ion batteries with Prof. Craig Arnold.