LATSIS SYMPOSIUM
th
12 INTERNATIONALSYMPOSIUM
HYDROGEN & ENERGY
Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Storage, Hydrogen Applications, Theory andModelling, Fuel Cells, Batteries, Synthetic Fuels, Functional Materials
The 12th International Symposium “Hydrogen & Energy” serves as an information platformof the fundamental science and the frontiers of research in Sciences and Technology ofHydrogen & Energy (Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Storage, Hydrogen Applications,
Theory and Modelling, Fuel Cells, Batteries, Synthetic fuels). The symposium consists ofinvited keynote lectures reviewing the key elements of the hydrogen cycle, i.e. the hydrogenproduction, hydrogen storage and hydrogen combustion and fuel cells. Furthermore,
contributions on the conversion of renewable energy in general and energy carriers besideand beyond hydrogen are very welcome. The world leading experts present the current
research challenges and most important results in invited and contributing talks. Early
stage and experienced researchers present their newest results and the open questions on
posters as well as in a one slide presentation.
The conference will take place in the SwissTech Convention Center at École polytechnique
fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland. The symposium received the Latsis award and istherefore a Latsis Symposium.
The number of participants is limited to 120.

11. - 16. February 2018
Swiss Tech Convention Center
Route Louis-Favre 21024 Ecublens
Switzerland
T: +41 21 693 42 42
URL: https://www.stcc.chth

12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Financial support by the Latsis conference award as well as EPFL is greatly acknowledged!

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 20183

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

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CONTENTS
Timetable

8

Abstracts

Sunday11. 2. 2018

ROLEX Learning Center, EPFL, Ecublens

15:00

Registration

17:00

Chair: Andreas ZÜTTEL
Opening of the 12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy:

17:30

Prof. Dr. Berend SMIT

18:30

Welcome reception at the ROLEX Learning Center

20:00

End

Monday12. 2. 2018
09:00

10

SwissTech Convention Center
Chair: Hans GEERLINGS
Prof. Dr. Michael GRÄTZEL, MESOSCOPIC PHOTOSYSTEMS FOR THE SOLAR
GENERATION OF HYDROGEN

11

10:30

Prof. Dr. Kevin SIVULA, Materials for economical photoelectrochemicalsolar hydrogen production

12

11:00

Mrs. Stavroula KAMPOURI, Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation from a
Visible-Light Responsive Metal-Organic Framework System: The Impact of
Nickel Phosphide Nanoparticles

13

11:30

Dr. Adelbert GOEDE, KEROGREEN - CO2 Neutral Aviation Fuel

14

14:00

Chair: Nicholas STADIE
Prof. Shin-ichi ORIMO, Complex Hydrides for Energy Device Research

15

15:30

Mrs. Heena YANG, Carbon materials for hydrogen storage

16

16:00

Dr. Andreas BORGSCHULTE, Chemical Reactions by High-resolution
Neutron Imaging

17

16:30

Mr. Emanuele MOIOLI

18

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

18:00

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

POSTER Session and Cocktail Dinner
Chair: Marco CALIZZI
Mrs. Jasmin TERRNI, Sorption enhanced Methanol Production

19

Dr. Satya Sekhhar BHOGILLA, Thermal Design of Hydrogen Storage Tank
for Renewable Energy Applications

20

Mr. Loris LOMBARDO, The study of sodium borohydride with ionic liquid
for hydrogen storage

21

Prof. Asuncion FERNANDEZ, Formic acid as H2 carrier: Study of liquid vsgas phase decomposition reaction on supported Pd heterogeneous
catalysts

22

Mr. Youngdon KO, DUAL LAYER ELECTRODE MEMBRANE ASSEMBLY WITH
HOLLOW STRUCTURED-TIO2 AND ITS APPLICATION IN PROTON EXCHANGE
MEMBRANE FUEL CELL

23

Prof. Dr. Whajung KIM, SELF-HUMIDIFYING MEMBRANE ELETRODEASSEMBLY FABRICATED BY DUAL LAYER ELECTRODE USING HOLLOWSTRUCTURED-ZRO2

24

Mr. Jie ZHANG

25

Mr. Mo LI, INVESTIGATION OF GAS-SURFACE INTERACTION OF WELLDEFINED MODEL CATALYSTS FOR CO2 HYDROGENATION

26

Mrs. Fatma Pelin KINIK, Hydrogen Storage in Metal Organic Frameworks

27

Prof. Dr. Andreas ZÜTTEL, Future Energy Economy in Switzerland

28

Dr. Noris GALLANDAT, GRZ Technologies SA

29

Dr. Christoph ELLERT, Power to Gas - aspects of system design

30

Mrs. Stavroula KAMPOURI
20:00
Tuesday
13. 2. 2018
09:00

End
SwissTech Convention Center
Chair: Shin-ichi ORIMO
Mr. Katsuhiko HIROSE, Physics for Economy, Latest Recognition about theRole of Hydrogen in the Industry and the Society

31

10:30

Prof. Dr. Kumar Varoon AGRAWAL, Single-layer graphene membranes forhydrogen purification

32

11:00

Prof. Dr. Hans HAGEMANN, Synergistic studies of novel battery materials

33

11:30

Mr. Cornel FINK, THE ROLE OF FORMIC ACID AND METHANOL IN THE
HYDROGEN SOCIETY

34

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14:00

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Chair: Katsuhiko HIROSE
Prof. Dr. Christoph MÜLLER, Power to Gas - aspects of system design

35

15:30

Mr. Damien CLÉMENÇON, Magnesium borohydride: synthesis ,nanoconfinement and catalysis

36

16:00

Mr. Robin MUTSCHLER, Determination of the activation energy of the CO2hydrogenation reaction over Fe, Co, Ni and Cu

37

16:30

Dr. Marco CALIZZI, Metal nanoparticles catalysts for H2 + CO2 convertion
into hydrocarbons: in operando spectroscopic study

38

Wednesday SwissTech Convention Center
14. 2. 2018
09:00

Chair: Craig JENSEN
Prof. Dr. Hannes JONSSON, CALCULATIONS OF ELECTROCHEMICALREDUCTION OF CO2 TO FORM HYDROCARBONS AND ALCOHOLS

39

10:30

Dr. Mariana SPODARYK, Malachite nanorods: “A new catalyst forelectrochemical reduction of CO2 to C2 hydrocarbons

40

11:00

Dr. Wen LUO, Copper/indium interface for superior performance in CO2electroreduction to CO

41

11:30

Prof. Dr. Luca PASQUINI, Element-specific channels in photoexcitation of
vanadium-doped titania nanoparticles

42

13:00

Bus leaves for EXCURSION

14:00

ELECTROMOBILIS in Martigny, Mr. Yorick Ligen and Dr. Alberto Battistel

16:00

ENERGYPOLIS in Sion, Noris Gallandat, Kumar Agrawal, Andreas Züttel

17:00

Wine tasting in PROVINS and Apéro

19:00

Bus returns to EPFL

Thursday
15. 2. 2018
09:00

10:30

SwissTech Convention Center
Chair: Hannes JONSSON
Prof. Dr. Craig JENSEN, Reversible Dehydrogenation of Magnesium
Borohydride at Moderate Conditions

43

Mr. Matteo BRIGHI, HETEROVALENT ANION MIXING IN SODIUM CLOSOBORANE, A WAY TO STABILIZE SUPERIONIC PHASE CLOSE TO ROOMTEMPERATURE

44

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11:00

Mrs. Efi HADJIXENOPHONTOS, DIFFUSION PROCESSES IN MG AND TI THINFILMS FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE

45

11:30

Prof. Sophia HAUSSENER, Modelling, experimentation and scaling ofphoto-electrochemical fuel processing devices

46

14:00

Chair: Efi HADJIXENOPHONTOS
Prof. Dr. Hans GEERLINGS, The role of electrochemical conversions in large
scale synthesis of solar fuels

47

15:30

Mrs. Mapula MOROPENG, Numerical analysis of Pressure - Composition Temperature relationship of metal hydride systems during hydrogenstorage using C++ software.

48

16:00

Mr. Magnus Moe NYGÅRD, Hydrogen storage in high-entropy alloys withvarying degree of local lattice strain

49

16:30

Mrs. Kun ZHAO, CO2 hydrogenation on metals: Intermediates or byreaction?

50

18:00

Conference dinner at the Olymic Museum in Lausanne

Friday16. 2. 2018
09:00

SwissTech Convention Center
Chair: Andreas ZÜTTEL
Prof. Nicholas STADIE, Boron-Doped Graphitic Carbon and the Road to BC3
for Hydrogen Storage

51

10:30

Mr. Philipp FURLER, SOLAR THERMOCHEMICAL SPLITTING OF CO2 AND
H2O WITH HIGH SELECTIVITY, STABILITY, CONVERSION, AND EFFICIENCY

52

11:00

Prof. Dr. Zbigniew LODZIANA, IONIC CONDUCTIVITY IN METAL-CLOSOBORANES

53

11:30

Closing

SCIENCE OF HYDROGEN & ENERGY AWARD

54

List of Participants

64

Information

71

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ABSTRACTS

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THE PAST, CURRENT AND FUTURE CARBON CYCLE: MAKING FOSSIL
FUELS GREAT AGAIN?
Berend SMIT
Laboratory for Molecular Simulations (LMSO), Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL Valais/Wallis, Switzerland.

In this lecture we look at the carbon cycle. The earth has seen many type of different fluctuations of
the carbon levels in the atmosphere. These fluctuations are discussed in terms of the carbon cycle.
We compare these natural fluctuations with the perturbation induced by the burning of fossil fuels.
We also try to predict the consequences of different scenarios about the envisioned use of fossil
fuels on the future carbon cycle. We end this lecture with the question: what to do about it?
Book: Introduction to CCS
The aim and purpose of the book [1] is to provide anunderstanding of the current science underpinning
Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and to provide
students and interested researchers with sufficient
background on the basics of Chemical Engineering,
Material Science, and Geology that they can understandthe current state of the art of the research in the field of
CCS. In addition, the book provides a comprehensive
discussion of the impact on CCS on the energy
landscape, society, and climate as these topics govern
the success of the science being done in this field.

gain a broad multidisciplinary view of the research that isbeing carried out to solve one of biggest challenges ofour generation. Readership: Students taking courses onenvironmental sciences and research level individuals
who are interested in environmental issues related to
CCS.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the only available
technology that allows us to significantly reduce ourCO2 emissions while keeping up with the ever-increasing
global energy demand. Research in CCS focuses on
reducing the costs of carbon capture and increasing ourknowledge of geological storage to ensure the safe andpermanent storage of CO2. This brief review will discuss
progress in different capture and storage technologies. [2]References[1] Book: "Introduction to Carbon Capture andSequestration (Berkeley Lectures on Energy)", by(author): Berend Smit (UC Berkeley), Jeffrey A
Reimer (UC Berkeley), Curtis M Oldenburg (LBNL),
Ian C Bourg (LBNL), Publisher: Imperial College
Press, (2014), 596pp (ISBN-13: 978-1783263288)

The book is aimed at undergraduate students, graduate
students, scientists, and professionals who would like to

Berend SMIT

[2] Berend Smit, "Carbon Capture and Storage:
introductory lecture", Faraday Discussions, 192,(2016), pp. 9-25

Berend Smit received an MSc in Chemical Engineering in 1987 and an MSc in Physics both fromthe Technical University in Delft (the Netherlands). He received in 1990 cum laude PhD in
Chemistry from Utrecht University (the Netherlands). He was a (senior) Research Physicists at
Shell Research from 1988-1997, Professor of Computational Chemistry at the University of
Amsterdam (the Netherlands) 1997-2007. In 2004 Berend Smit was elected Director of theEuropean Center of Atomic and Molecular Computations (CECAM) Lyon France. Since 2007 he isProfessor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley and Faculty Chemist atMaterials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since 2014 he is director oflaboratory for molecular simulations (LSMO) at EPFL. Berend Smit's research focuses on theapplication and development of novel molecular simulation techniques, with emphasis on energy
related applications.

Corresponding author: Berend SMIT, email: berend.smit@epfl.ch, Tel. +41 21 693 6702 homepage

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MESOSCOPIC PHOTOSYSTEMS FOR THE SOLAR GENERATION OF
HYDROGEN
Michael Grätzel
1)

Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Learning from the concepts used by green plants photosynthesis, we have developed mesoscopic photosystems
affording efficient solar light harvesting and conversion to electricity and fuels [1-4]. Solar cells using dyes,
semiconductor quantum dots or perovskite pigments as light harvesters have emerged as credible contenders toconventional silicon cells photovoltaic devices. Separating light absorption from charge carrier transport dye sensitized
mesoscopic solar cells (DSCs) were the first to use a three-dimensional nanocrystalline junction for solar electricity
production [1]. The conversion efficiency for DSC’s is currently 14-15 % and over 22.7 % for pervoskite pigments [5].
DSCs are simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and they possess unique practical advantages including
flexibility and transparency. These features along with excellent long-term stability have fostered first commercial
applications, the industrial production of DSC’s attaining presently the multi-MW/year scale. The fundamentally new
concepts have been applied to realize the solar generation of hydrogen from water by photo-electrochemical cells [6] aswell as the combination of perovskite solar cells with water electrolysers [7]. The current research status of this field will
be presented.

References[5] M. Grätzel Nature Materials 13 (2014) 839 .

[1] B.O'Regan,M.Grätzel Nature 335 (1991) 7377.

[6] J. Luo, L. Steier, M.-K. Son, M. Schreier, M.T. Mayer,
M. Grätzel Nano Letters, 16 (2016) 1848-1857.

[2] M. Grätzel, R.A.J. Janssen, D.B. Mitzi, E.H. Sargent
Nature 488 (2012) 304.
[3] M. Grätzel, Nature 414,(2001) 338.

[7] J. Luo, J.-H. Im, M.T. Mayer, M. Schreier, Md.K.
Nazeeruddin, N.-G. Park, S.D.Tilley, H.J. Fan, M.
Grätzel, Science 345 (2014) 1593.

[4] A. Yella, H.-W. Lee, H.N. Tsao, C. Yi. A.K. Chandiran,
Md.K. Nazeeruddin, E.W.-G.Diau, C.-Y. Yeh, S.M.
Zakeeruddin, M. Grätzel Science 334 (2011) 629.

He graduated as Doctor of Natural Science (Dr.rer.nat.) from the Technical University of Berlin
and received 10 honorary doctors degrees from Asian and European Universities.Professor of
Physical Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Michael Graetzel directs
there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research in the field of energy
and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use in energy conversion
systems, in particular photovoltaic cells and photo-electrochemical devices for the splitting ofwater into hydrogen and oxygen and the reduction of carbon dioxide by sunlight as well as thestorage of electric power in lithium ion batteries. He discovered a new type of solar cell based ondye sensitized nanocrystalline oxide films which successfully mimic the light reaction occurring ingreen leafs and algae during natural photosynthesis.

Michael GRÄTZEL

Author of several books and over 1500 publications that received some 227000 citations with hfactor 218 (07.12.2017), he is one of the 3 most highly cited chemists in the world. His recent
awards include the RUSNANO Prize, Dr. Honoris Cause of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure deParis-Cachan, the Global Energy Prize, the Zewail Prize and Medal, the Centenary Prize of theRoyal Society of Chemistry (UK), the Ordre de mérite du canton de Vaud, the Paracelsus Prizeof the Swiss Chemical Society, the King Feisal International Science Prize, the Samson Prime
Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels, the First Leigh-Ann Conn Prize in Renewable
Energy, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the Paul Karrer
Gold Medal, the Gutenberg Research Award, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, and the
Balzan Prize. Other prestigious awards include the Galvani Medal, the Faraday Medal, theHarvey Prize, the Gerischer Award, the Galileo Galilei Award, the City of Florence Award of the
Italian chemical Society, the Dutch Havinga Award and Medal, the International Prize of theJapanese Society of Coordination Chemistry, the ENI-Italgas Energy-Prize.

Corresponding author: Michael GRÄTZEL, email: michael.graetzel@epfl.ch, Tel. +41 21 693 3112

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MATERIALS FOR ECONOMICAL PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL SOLAR
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
Kevin Sivula
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Abstract: Developing routes to store solar energy as chemical fuels at a global scale is urgently needed for a carbonneutral energy economy. High-efficiency direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion can be achieved using semiconductor liquidjunctions in a photoelectrochemical water-splitting device. However, the development of robust and inexpensive
materials that operate with exceptional performance are needed to make this approach economically viable. In thispresentation our laboratory’s progress in the development new materials will be discussed along with the application
toward overall solar water splitting.

To transition our energy economy into one that is fully
sustainable and not dependent on fossil fuels, developing
an economically viable “artificial photosynthetic” device
for the overall storage of solar energy as chemical energy
is an urgent goal. Using solar energy to drive theelectrochemical production of fuels (e.g. the splitting ofwater into molecular hydrogen and oxygen) is apromising technology in this regard. High-efficiency solarto-hydrogen energy conversion can be directly achieved
using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) device consisting of
an n-type photoanode in tandem with a p-type
photocathode. However, the development of stable andinexpensive photoelectrodes are needed to make PEC
devices economically viable.
Our laboratory at EPFL has progressed in thedevelopmentof
economically-prepared,highperformance photoelectrodes and is implementing them
toward overall PEC water splitting tandem cells.
Specifically, we use scalable solution-processing
techniques (e.g. colloidal processing of nanoparticles or
sol-gels) and develop strategies to overcome limitations
in charge transport and charge transfer in the resulting
thin-film photoelectrodes using chemical innovations
such as using charge extraction buffer layers, catalysts,

annealing/doping and nanoparticle self-assembly.
Materials of interest are delafossite CuFeO2 [1] CIGS [2],2D-layered WSe2 [3], and semiconducting carbon-basedmaterials [4].

References[1] a) Prévot, M. S., Guijarro, N. & Sivula, K.
ChemSusChem 8, 1359-1367, (2015). b) Prevot, M.
S., Jeanbourquin, X. A., Bouree, W. S., Abdi, F.,Friedrich, D., van de Krol, R., Guijarro, N., Le Formal,
F. & Sivula, K. Chem. Mater. 29, 4952-4962, (2017).
[2] Guijarro, N. et al. Adv. Energy Mater. 6, 1501949,(2016).
[3] a) Yu, X., Prevot, M. S., Guijarro, N. & Sivula, K. Nat.
Commun. 6, 7596, (2015). b) Yu, X., Guijarro, N.,
Johnson, M. & Sivula, K. Nano Lett. 18, 215-222,(2018).
[4] Bornoz, P., Prévot, M. S., Yu, X., Guijarro, N. &Sivula, K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 15338-15341,(2015).

Prof. Kevin Sivula is the head of the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic
Nanomaterials (LIMNO) at EPFL Since 2011. Research in LIMNO is directed to engineering new,inexpensive, and solution-processable semiconductor materials for implementation into highperformance devices. Full publication list: https://goo.gl/wuWQrs

Kevin Sivula
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Station 6, Bât. CH, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
E-mail: kevin.sivula@epfl.ch

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Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation from a Visible-Light Responsive Metal-Organic
Framework System: The Impact of Nickel Phosphide Nanoparticles
a

a

a

a

a

Stavroula Kampouri, Tu N. Nguyen, Christopher P. Ireland, Bardiya Valizadeh, Fatmah Mish Ebrahim, Gloria
a
a
ab
c
c
d
d
Capano, Daniele Ongari, Amber Mace, Nestor Guijarro Carratala, Kevin Sivula, Andrzej Sienkiewicz, László Forró,aaBerend Smit, Kyriakos C. Stylianou *a.

Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC)
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais)
Rue de l’industrie 17, 1951 Sion (Switzerland). E-mail: kyriakos.stylianou@epfl.chb.
Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory
Stockholm University.
c.
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC)
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 6, 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland).
d.
Institute of Physics
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Station 3, 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland).

Abstract‘Solar-driven’ water splitting for hydrogen (H2) generation represents the ‘Holy Grail’ of energy science and technology. For
decades, numerous photocatalytic systems have been developed, but their low efficiency due to the limited sun-light absorptivityof the photocatalysts, low activity of co-catalysts, their high cost and low stability inhibits their use in industry. Metal-organic
frameworks (MOFs) represent an interesting class of solid crystalline materials that can be self-assembled through the bindingof organic linkers with metal ions/clusters. This new materials are ideal candidates for photocatalytic applications, mainly due totheir tunable structural and optical properties as well as their record-breaking internal surface areas.1,2
In this work, we present a new photocatalytic system that simultaneously tackles these challenges while exhibiting remarkable
H2 generation rates. The main composition of the system is based on the well-known MIL-125-NH2 mixed with nickel phosphide(Ni2P) nanoparticles. This combination boosts the H2 evolution rate to an outstanding value of 894 µmol h-1 g-1 under visible-lightirradiation, which is among the highest H2 evolution rates reported to date for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The H2generation rate produced by Ni2P/MIL-125-NH2 is almost 3 times higher than that of Pt/MIL-125-NH2 system, highlighting theimpact of the co-catalyst in photocatalytic water splitting. Additionally, our system outperforms the Ni2P/TiO2 system under UVVis irradiation. The exceptional performance of Ni2P/MIL-125-NH2 is due to the efficient transfer of photogenerated electrons
from MIL-125-NH2 to Ni2P, high intrinsic activity of Ni2P and exceptional synergy between them. This system exhibits the highest
apparent quantum yields of 27.0 and 6.6 % at 400 and 450 nm, respectively, ever reported for MOFs.
References(1)

Hendon, C. H.; Tiana, D.; Fontecave, M.; Sanchez, C.; D’arras, L.; Sassoye, C.; Rozes, L.; Mellot-Draznieks, C.; Walsh, A.
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2013, 135, 10942.

(2)

Nelson, A. P.; Farha, O. K.; Mulfort, K. L.; Hupp, J. T. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2009, 131, 458.

Avenue du Bietschhorn 38 c, Sion,1950, Valais, Switzerland+41 78 679 46 41
alina.kampouri5@gmail.com
Date of birth 11/11/1992 | Nationality Greeknd³ 2 year PhD assistant in LSMO (laboratory of molecular simulation) at EPFL (École
polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)³ Diploma in ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING at Technical University of Crete (T.U.C.)
KAMPOURI
Stavroula- Alina

Research Interests:
Synthesis and characterization of light-responsive Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) andevaluation of their photocatalytic performance toward dihydrogen generation.

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12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

KEROGREEN - CO2 NEUTRALAVIATION FUEL
By Adelbert Goede1, Michalis Tsampas1, Suleyman Er1,
Roland Dittmeyer2, Peter Pfeiffer2, Andreas Patyk2,
Vesna Middelkoop3, Sophie Labonnote-Weber4,
Leonardo Roses5, Ellart de Wit5, Tim Böltken6, Alexander
Alekseev7, Maarten van Dijk8, Richard van de Sanden1,
Waldo Bongers1, Ben Elzendoorn1, Paola Diomede1, Erik
Langereis11

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018
converting surplus renewable electricity in carbon neutral
liquid fuel, vast energy storage capacity opens up to theelectricity system, providing flexibility and allowing
increased penetration of renewable electricity. This
Power-to-X technology is generic as it couples theelectricity system to the oil, gas and chemical
infrastructure with the powerful potential to reduce overall
EU CO2 emissions, strengthen EU energy security andconserve fossil fuel. Compact sized KEROGREEN
equipment close coupled to an off-shore wind turbine or aremote solar array produces carbon neutral liquid fuel onsite, with no need for expensive upgrade of the electricity
infrastructure.

Abstract
KEROGREEN, a H2020 funded project, offers a novel
conversion route to sustainable aviation fuel synthesised
from H2O and CO2 powered by renewable electricity. The
conversion is based on plasma driven CO2 dissociation,
electrochemical oxygen separation and Fischer-Tropsch(F-T) synthesis of kerosene. Synergy between plasma
activated species and novel perovskite electrodes of thesolid oxide oxygen separator are expected to raise CO
productivity and energy efficiency. The CO2 emitted uponfuel usage is recirculated as feedstock to the process bydirect air capture. The sustainable kerosene emits lesssoot and no Sulphur, meeting future aviation air pollution
standards. The technology is modular, scalable and relies
on inexpensive existing infrastructure for storage,transport and distribution. In this project the technology
readiness level is raised from TRL 3 to 4 by novel system
integration into a container sized unit producing 1kg/hr
kerosene. Projected cost at this stage of development are
estimated at +50% of fossil kerosene. Market entrance will
be facilitated by Carbon tax, ETS and ICAO regulation.
The intermediate CO product is a valuable gas by itself.
On-site production offers inherent safety. By dynamically

References[1] Goede, A P H., et. al., “Production of Solar Fuels by CO2
plasmolysis” EurPhys.J.79, 01005 (2014), DOI:
10.1051/epjconf/20147901005[2] Goede, APH in “Energy: Basic concepts and forefront Ideas”
Joint EPS-SIF Int. School Energy, p. 357-380 (2015), Ed.
Cifarelli, L., F. Wagner,. ISBN 978-88-7438-094-7[3] Adelbert Goede and Richard van de Sanden “CO2 Neutral
Fuels” EPN 47/3 p.22 (2016) DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epn/2016304

Adelbert Goede (M) has extensive experience in space and fusion research. He conducted the initial DIFFER
CO2 plasma dissociation experiments in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart, see references. He set up
and led Earth Observation at the Dutch Space Research Organisation and was Co-PI of the ESA Envisat
SCIAMACHY instrument for monitoring greenhouse gases from space. He was responsible for physics,
development and procurement of a JET Neutral Injection sub-system. He managed a number of ESA and EC
projects and held/holds various national and European board positions, including Kopernikus Advisory Board and
EERA JP Chemical Energy Storage chair, lectured at SIF-EPS International Energy School 2014 and 2017, (co-)
authored over 200 publications, is fellow of the European Physical Society, member Optical Society of America,
member Dutch Physical Society, Advisor to the Director of DIFFER.

Corresponding author: Adelbert Goede, E a.p.h.goede@differ.nl, T +31 40 3334955.

1. DIFFER, Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research(NWO)
2. KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Helmholtz Association),
Institutes IMVT and ITAS
3. VITO, Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek NV
4. CerPoTech, Ceramic Powder Technology AS

5. HyGear Technology and Services B.V
6. INERATEC, Innovative Chemical Reactor Technologies
GmbH
7. LINDE AG
8. SkyNRG

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Complex Hydrides for Energy Device ResearchShin-ichi ORIMO1
1 WPI-AIMR / Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Complex hydrides exhibit various energy-related functions; such as high-density hydrogen storage and microwave
absorption for future fuel cell technologies [1], as well as fast(or super)-ionic conduction for energy devices [2-5].
Systematic studies on lithium/sodium super-ionic conduction and development of all-solid-state lithium-ion battery
devices (both the high-energy-density and high-thermal-durability types) using complex hydrides are to be explained [7].
Also, the progress on the synthesis of new complex hydrides with highly-coordinated-hydrogen will be presented [8].

Li H

B

Complex Hydride showing
Lithium Super-Ionic Conduction

Advanced Batteries with
Complex Hydride Electrode

Figure based on Ref. 7[1] S. Orimo, C.M. Jensen, A. Züttel et al., Chem. Rev.
107, 4111 (2007). Highly Cited Paper, >1200[5] W.S. Tang, S. Orimo T.J. Udovic, et al., Adv. Energy
Mater. 6, 1502237 (2016).

[2] M. Matsuo and S. Orimo, Adv. Energy Mater. (Review
Article) 1, 161 (2011).

[6] K. Yoshida et al., Appl. Phys Lett. 110, 103901 (2017).

[3] A. Unemoto et al., Adv. Functional Mater. (Feature
Article) 103, 133903 (2014).
[4] T.J. Udovic, S. Orimo et al., Chem. Comm. 50, 3750
(2014); Adv. Mater. 26, 7622 (2014).

[7] R. Mohtadi and S. Orimo, Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 16091(2016). Highly Cited Paper[8] S. Takagi, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 54, 5650
(2015); Sci. Rep. 7, 44253 (2017)

Shin-ichi ORIMO received his Ph.D. in 1995. He was a JSPS research fellow, a research
associate in Hiroshima University, and a guest researcher in Max-Planck Institute for Metal
Research awarded by Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and MEXT Fellowship. He worked as
the Special Advisor to the University President, and is currently a professor of WPI-AIMR as a
Principal Investigator, Institute of Materials Research (IMR) as a Head of Section/ResearchCenter, Tohoku University. The related research was recently awarded by “Metals Meritorious
Award (Japanese Institute of Metals, 2011), “The Commendation for Science and Technology(The Minister of MEXT, 2012)”, “Hydrogen & Energy Award (2015)”, and so on.
Shin-ichi ORIMO

http://www.hydrogen.imr.tohoku.ac.jp/

Corresponding author: Shin-ichi ORIMO, Email: orimo@imr.tohoku.ac.jp, Tel. (+81)22-215-2093.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

CARBON MATERIALS FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE
Heena Yanga, Andreas ZüttelaaLMER, ISIC, SB, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais/Wallis, Energypolis, Rue de l’Industrie 17,
CP 440, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerland
Abstract: The adsorption of hydrogen on the carbon surface is a Van der Waals interaction. The interaction energy issmall and was found to be in the range of a few kJ·mol-1 H2. Therefore, hydrogen storage in carbon material has the
major disadvantage that the interaction energy is low (5 kJ·mol-1 H2) and only at low temperature (77 K) significant
amounts (>1mass%) of hydrogen is adsorbed. Here we report that results involve the synthesis of a 3D structure ofcarbon material from graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes and their application as hydrogen storage materials. The
material absorbs more than 5 mass% of hydrogen at ambient temperature and desorbs the hydrogen at up to 80°C.
Hydrogen energy is one of the alternative energy sourcesthat can replace fossil fuels that can actively replace
climate change due to global warming and become
depleted. Hydrogen is an ideal clean energy that does
not interfere with the circulation of nature. Hydrogenstorage is an indispensable prerequisite for the use ofhydrogen energy, especially due to the wide deploymentof fuel cells in transport. The hydrogen storage method
developed so far includes a method of storing liquidhydrogen, a method of storing gaseous hydrogen, and amethod of storing in the form of hydrogen alloy. Gas
hydrogen storage or liquid hydrogen storage method is
explosion risk at room temperature, storage cost is high,hydrogen storage alloy is heavy, expensive, and has lowhydrogen storage capacity (4 wt%) [1, 2].
Carbon materials are attracting attention for stablehydrogen storage. Although the carbon material iscomposed of a single element, it has various forms ofbonding, and is an excellent material having excellent
characteristics such as chemical stability, electric andthermal conductivity. The carbon material is lightweight
and abundant in resources, and has the advantages oflower storage cost compared to conventional hydrogenstorage methods. Physisorbed hydrogen is based on the
Van der Waals interaction between hydrogen and carbon
materials. The interaction energy is in the order of 5
kJ·mol-1 (H2) and therefore, significant amounts ofadsorbed molecules are only found at low temperatures(100 K). Carbon materials for hydrogen storage are
activated carbon, carbon nanotubes (CNT), andgraphene or graphene oxide (GO). Activated carbon has
been actively studied, as an adsorbent because of its
excellent adsorption ability. Especially, it is possible tomass-produce compared with other carbon materials,
and it is relatively cheap (0.6 –5.6 CHF/kg). The
hydrogen storage capacity of activated carbon at 77 K is
2 to 5 mass% and around 1.2 mass% at room
temperature.
Much research has been done to increase the van der
Waals interaction energy. Despite all the attempts toincrease the Van der Waals interaction energy, nomaterial with a significantly increased isosteric enthalpyof adsorption was found [3, 4].
In this study, the 3D structure of carbon material was
synthesized from GO and MWCNTs. The synthesis canbe easily upscalled opening the possibility to mass
produce the material. While the hydrogen absorption in
GO and MWCNTs at room temperature is close to thedetection limit of the gas analyzing system used. The
hydrogen absorption of the 3D carbon material is
extraordinary high >5mass% at ambient temperature.
This carbon material increased hydrogen bonding energy
and exhibits a complete reversibility of the hydrogen
adsorption. It is the first time that a significant hydrogen
adsorption on carbon was found at room temperature.
This material has the potential to revolutionize thehydrogen storage and make large storages economicallyfeasible.

References[1] Nature 386 (1997), 377.
[2] J. Phys. Chem. B 102 (1998), 4253.
[3] Int. J. of Hydrogen Energy 27 (2002), 203.
[4] Appl. Phys. A Mater. Sci. Process. 78:7 (2004), 941.

Born in 1986, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Heena Yang graduated with Ph.D. degree in Materials
Chemistry and Engineering from Konkuk university in 2016. During this time, she worked as anundergraduate research assistant in the field of nanostructured materials and proton exchange fuelcells at Konkuk university. Her current research is focused on complex hydride and nanostructured
materials for hydrogen storage at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Heena Yang
Corresponding author: Heena Yang, email: Heena.yang@epfl.ch, Tel: +41 21 69 58214.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Chemical Reactions by High-resolution Neutron Imaging
Jasmin Terreni1,2, Renaud Delmelle3, Andre Heel3, Pavel Trtik,4 Eberhard Lehmann,4Andreas Borgschulte1
1

Empa, Laboratory for Advanced Analytical Technologies, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland

2

University of Zürich, Department of Chemistry, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland

3

ZHAW - Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, IMPE, CH-8400 Winterthur, Switzerland

4

Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging (LNS), Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

We demonstrate a operando technique based on time-resolved high resolution neutron imaging to map the water
concentration distribution inside catalysts beads during sorption enhanced CO2 methanation reaction.

Operando Imaging of Chemical Reactions
Despite the obvious scientific link between mesoscopic
structure of a catalyst and the catalytic performance, itsrational design remains a challenge due to lack of true
dynamic information. Recording non-periodic, dynamic
processes of technical catalysts with high spatial andtemporal resolution on the mesoscopic scale is aparticular challenge. In addition to these challenges, theprobing beam must be compatible to the harsh reaction
conditions (e.g., gas environment of the sample andtemperature) [1]. Our approach is based on theinteraction of neutrons with matter, which is highly
element selective. The interaction of neutrons with many
types of materials is relatively weak, and thus, forexample, the neutron beams can easily penetrate
relatively thick aluminum walls of a chemical reactor. At
the same time, neutrons have a large cross-section withhydrogen, i.e., we can follow the change in hydrogenconcentration by means of neutron imaging of an
operating chemical reactor [2].

Neutron Imaging of Sorption Catalysts
We demonstrate the feasibility of the operando techniquebased on time-resolved high resolution neutron imaging
by mapping the water concentration distribution inside
catalysts beads during sorption enhanced CO2
methanation reaction at ambient pressure andtemperatures up to 300°C with a spatial and temporal
resolution of 50 µm and 60 s, respectively. We find thatthe diffusion of water through catalysts is a critical
reaction constraint. We derive the Thiele parameter [3] ofa technical catalyst as a quantitative measure supporting
the materials and reactor design of sorption enhanced
methanation.

General Applicability
Water accumulation as an indicator for reaction kinetics
is specific to the sorption enhanced CO2 methanation
reaction, and as such not easily applicable to othercatalytic systems. For these systems, we introduce a
combination of neutron microscopy with Steady State
Isotopic Transient Kinetic Analysis (SSITKA), in which theisotope labelling (hydrogen/deuterium exchange) isfollowed by neutron imaging and infrared spectroscopy.

References[1] C. H. Bartholomew and R. J. Farrauto, in
Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005, pp. 60.
[2] A. Borgschulte et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., vol.
18, 17217 (2016).
[3] E. W. Thiele, Ing. Eng. Chem., 31. 916 (1939).

Physicist with focus on Applied Spectroscopy; PhD in physics from TU Braunschweig (D) in 2002,
Postdoc VU Amsterdam (NL) and Helmholtzzentrum Geesthacht (D); since 2006 Group leader ofthe group Hydrogen Spectroscopy @ Empa, Lecturer at University Zürich and ETH Zürich.

A. Borgschulte
Corresponding author: Andreas Borgschulte, andreas.borgschulte@empa.ch, Tel. +41 58 765 4639

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Kinetic modelling and reactor optimisation for CO2 methanation over a
Ru/Al2O3 Catalyst
Emanuele Moioli, Noris Gallandat, Andreas Züttel
EPFL Valais, Laboratory for Materials for Renewable Energy, Rue de l’industrie 17, 1950 Sion, Switzerland
The CO2 methanation reaction on 0.5% Ru/Al2O3 was studied in a lab reactor with a design of experiments approach.
The experimental study posed the basis for the kinetic modelling of the reaction. The development of the kinetic model isthe milestone for a deeper understanding of the reaction properties and for the optimisation of the process by chemical
reaction engineering techniques.

Introduction
One of the most promising process to reconvert CO2 tovaluable chemicals is the methanation reaction. This
reaction takes place at moderate conditions (200-300 C
and 5-20 bar) and over various catalysts [1-2]. The main
challenge of the reaction is the themal management of
the reactor, since the conversion of CO2 is limited bythermodynamic equilibrium. The reaction is exothermal(∆! ! = −165 !"/!"#$) and the reactor must be carefully
designed in order to optimize the CO2 conversion. Scopeof this paper is the combination of experimental andmodelling approach to determine the optimal parameter
combination to successfully operate the reaction.

Experimental
The reaction was carried out in a lab scale cooled
reactor. The set up was loaded with pellets of 0.5 % Ru
on Al2O3; the performance of the reactor in terms of CO2
conversion was determined for a wide range ofparameters, including temperature, pressure and spacevelocity. The data were analysed by FTIR and used todetermine a kinetic model. The results were used to
implement in a 1D model of the reactor to simulate theoperation in a large space of parametric conditions.

!
!!
! = ! ∗ (!!"!
!!!
−

!
!!
!!"!
!!!!
)
!!"

With this single reaction, it is possible to describe
quantitatively the experimental results and implement a
detail model of the reactor. The calculated activationenergy value is 66 kJ/mol, in line with literature data. The
kinetic model allows determining the optimal temperature
profile in the reactor in order to maximize the reaction
rate and minimize the reactor volume. The result isshown in figure 1. Furthermore, operation of the reactor
is simulated, varying the inlet and coolant temperatureand the geometry. The reactor is subject to runaway
behaviour, with a high hotspot close to the inlet section.
The change in the value of the parameters results in aquick modification of the reactor operating point, moving

Results and discussion

Figure 1 Max reaction rate with T

The experimental results show that the CO2 reaction on
Ru/Al2O3 is completely selective to methane. No
significant amount of side products was formed in theexperimental runs. The reaction output is strongly
influenced by thermodynamics. An increase of pressurefavorites the yield to methane (due to Le Chathelier’s
principle), while a maximum trend is found fortemperature. The optimal temperature at the reactor
outlet is found between 260-280 C. According to theexperimental results, the process was modeled with anempirical power law rate involving thermodynamic
equilibrium. The formula used is:from a normal operation to a cold deactivation of thereaction (figure 2).

Figure 2 runaway effects in the reactor

In this study, we revealed the complex interrelationshipamong the considered parameters, determining the limits
for the operation of the reactor and the optimal conditions
to maximize the yield to methane.

References[1] P.J. Lunde, F.L. Kester, Ind. Eng. Chem., Process
Des. Develop., Vol.13, No.1,1974[2] X. Wang, Y. Hong, H. Shi, J. Szanyi, Journal of
Catalysis, 343 (2016) 185–19

Emanuele Moioli achieved his M.Sc. in Politecnico di Milano with a thesis on partial oxidation ofhydrocarbons. He then moved to Erlangen, Germany, for his PhD on model based design of chemical
reactor as Marie Curie fellow in cooperation with Lonza. Since November 2017 he joined LMER at
EPFL Sion, where he works on the design of a CO2 methanation reactor.
Corresponding author: Emanuele Moioli, Emanuele.moioli@epfl.ch, Tel. +41 21 69 58212

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Sorption enhanced Methanol Production
Jasmin Terreni1,2, Bruce Patterson, Andreas Borgschulte1
1

Empa, Laboratory for Advanced Analytical Technologies, Überlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland

2

University of Zürich, Department of Chemistry, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland

Methanol production from CO2 and renewable hydrogen suffers from a low yield due to the low exothermicity of thereaction. To overcome this challenge, high pressures and reactor looping are traditionally used. These incur a highenergy cost related to compression to high pressures (up to 100 bars) and product separation. We propose a novel
technique effectively lowering the product partial pressure by sorption catalysis. We demonstrate the proof-of-principle.
Future work will require fine tuning the relative adsorption strengths of reactants and products.

Concept of Sorption enhanced Catalysis
The concept of sorption enhanced catalysis makes use of
the fact that the reaction kinetics is controlled by theconcentration of reactants and products at the reaction
centres, which is modified by active removal of the
product by adsorption in sorbent [1]. Thus, a sorption
catalyst typically consists of the virtual catalyst (e.g.,transition metal nanoparticle), which is embedded in asorbent with a high selective affinity for the product. The
enhancement is affected by two parameters: thethermodynamics is positively influenced (Le Chatelier
principle), and kinetic constraints due to limited
transport/desorption from the active centres are lowered.
The thermodynamic effect is particularly effective forreaction with a relatively low exothermicity such as theformation of methanol from hydrogenation of CO2:
3!! + !!! → !! ! + !!! !", ∆!! = −49

!"
(1)
!"#

comparing to a typical heat of water adsorption in zeolites
of around -60 kJ/mol H2O. The total reaction heat of asorption enhanced hydrogenation will thus be doubled.
Despite these promising figures, the topic received
relatively little attention [2]. The concept was successfully
realized on the hydrogenation of CO2 to methane:!"4!! + !!! → 2!! ! + !!! , ∆!! = −165!"#2removal on the microscopic level [3]. An important
outcome is that the sorption catalyst must consist ofnanostructured composites to keep the (water) diffusion
path lengths as short as possible.

Preparation of Sorption enhanced Methanol
Catalysts
We adapted the recipe for a sorption enhanced
methanation catalyst to obtain a sorption enhanced
methanol catalyst. Sorption enhanced methanol catalysts
have been prepared by wet-impregnation / ion exchangeof copper and zinc ions into zeolites. Four different
zeolites, pure copper and pure zinc zeolites as well as
two mixtures of both, were investigated regarding theircatalytic activity. The sorption enhancement is mostprominent at low temperatures (200°C), but thereversibility of the process is difficult due to slow
desorption of methanol and water at these temperatures.

References[1] B.T. Carvill, J.R. Hufton, M. Anand, S. Sircar, AIChE
J. 42 (1996) 2765–2772.
[2] A. Zachopoulosa, E. Heracleousa, Journal of CO₂
Utilization 21 (2017) 360–367.
[3] A. Borgschulte et al Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 15(2013) 9620–9625.

Here, the thermodynamic improvement is less dominant.
Kinetic and spectroscopic experiments indicate that the
kinetics benefits from the acceleration of the water
Bachelor and Master in Chemistry at the University of Zurich, Zurich. Master thesis at Empa in thefield of CO2 reduction by transition metal sulfides. Since 2016, PhD at Empa in the Group of
Hydrogen Spectroscopy (Laboratory of Advanced Analytical Technologies) with the focus on CO2
reduction.

J. Terreni
Corresponding author: Jasmin Terreni, jasmin.terreni@empa.ch, Tel. +41 58 765 41 51

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12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen &Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland2018

THERMAL DESIGN OF HYDROGEN STORAGE TANK FOR RENEWABLE
ENERGY APPLICATIONSSatya Sekhar Bhogilla*,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIITDM Kurnool, India
Abstract
Metal hydrides have the ability to reversibly absorb and desorb relatively large amounts of hydrogen at a certain
temperature and pressure. The absorption of hydrogen in metal hydrides is an exothermic reaction, therefore, thegenerated heat has to be removed effectively in order to achieve the desired charging rate.A 3D numerical model has
been developed for predicting the hydrogen absorption process performance of cylindrical metal hydride tank (MHT)
filled with Ti0.98Zr0.02V0.43Fe0.09Cr0.05Mn1.5 hydrogen storage material. Heat exchange arrangement considered between
the MHT and the heat transfer fluid for cooling is helical coil internal heat exchanger in the powdered metal hydride bed.

Introduction
Hydrogen based renewable energy storage system is
one of the best option to store renewable energy. Metalhydride systems seem to provide a secure and effective
way of storing large amount of hydrogen in terms ofvolume particularly for renewable energy applications1.
AB5 and AB2 based metal hydrides have been commonlyused materials in the practical applications of hydrogenstorage systems. The absorption and desorption ofhydrogen in metal hydrides are exothermic/endothermic
processes, i.e. associated with release of heat from thereaction bed or uptake of heat into the reaction bed. The
performance of any metal hydride based thermal device
is essentially determined by these heat and masstransfer processes. Hence, the thermal management of
the hydrogen storage container is very important. The
storage tank has to be equipped with good heatexchanger to transfer heat rapidly from the system toheat transfer fluid or vice versa. The performance of heatand mass transfer can be improved by integrating reactor
tank with helical coil heat exchanger. A three-dimensional
numerical model is developed for predicting the hydrogenstorage performance of a 3-D cylindrical metal hydridetank filled with AB2 alloy. The comparison of hydrogenstorage tank performance between the traditional shelland tube heat exchanger and helical coil heat exchanger(HE) is performed.

Theoretical study
The following equations were included in COMSOL while
simulating the metal-hydrogen reaction process:1. Equilibrium pressure, Peq (bar), was modelled using
the modified van’t Hoff equation2.

Satya Sekhar
Bhogilla

2. Energy equation. It was noted that even if to accountthe heat exchange between solid and gas phase in MH
systems, the temperatures of the phases during H2absorption / desorption will be practically equal.
Assuming thermal equilibrium between the hydride bed
and hydrogen, a combined energy equation with a source
term was introduced instead of separate equations forboth solid and gas phases.
3. Hydrogen mass balance equation. The hydrogenmass balance is expressed using the continuity equation
where the velocity of hydrogen inside the hydride bed is
calculated using Darcy’s law. The gas density isdetermined by the equation of ideal gas.

Results and Discussion
The MHT absorbed around 10080 NL (0.9kg of H2) ofhydrogen. Based on the obtained results, the MHT filledwith AB2 alloy is more suitable to integrate with WE andFC (or URFC) in renewable applications compared to
AB5 alloy. This is due to high hydrogen storage capacity,less expensive and high delivery pressure to FC
compared to AB5 alloy. This MHT can also be used as ahydrogen storage tank for fuel cell powered electric
forklift. The heavy weight enables the MHT to be also
used as ballast for forklifts.

References[1] Bhogilla et. al. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 41,1224-36(2016).
[2] Muthukumar et. al, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 37,
14351-14364 (2012).

Dr. Bhogilla Satya Sekhar received B.E. (Mechanical Engineering) in 2008 from Andhra University
and M. Tech in 2010 with specialization in Fluid & Thermal Science from Mechanical Engineering at
IIT Guwahati. Following this, he started PhD at the same Institute, where he was involved in thedevelopment of Hydrogen Storage System. After PhD, He joined HySA Systems, University of theWestern Cape as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in October 2013 to continue research onhydrogen energy. Later he worked at Research Institute for Energy Conservation, AIST, Japan as a
Post-Doctoral Fellow from August 2014 to July 2016. Currently He is a faculty member in
Mechanical Engineering Department at IIITDM Kurnool, India. His areas of interests are Solid State
Hydrogen Storage, Fuel Cells, Sorption Systems and Thermal Energy Storage.

Corresponding author: B. Satya Sekhar, email: satyasekhar@iiitk.ac.in, Tel. +91-44- 2747- 6377

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

EFFECT OF IONIC LIQUID IN DEHYDROGENATION TEMPERATURE OF
SODIUM BOROHYDRIDE
Loris Lombardo, Heena Yang, Andreas Züttel
LMER, ISIC, SB, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais/Wallis, Energypolis, Rue de l’Industrie 17,
CP 440, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerland
Abstract: Ball-milled sodium borohydride with vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride ([VBTMA][Cl]), an ionic salt, has
shown drastic change in thermal hydrogen release. Dehydrogenation starts around 160°C, more than 300°C less whichis compared with bulk NaBH4. A quantity of 2.5 wt% hydrogen can be extracted from this material. In order to increase
the hydrogen content, synthesis of [VBTMA][BH4] by ion exchange has been performed, and it shows the desorption ofhydrogen from 150°C. The total quantity of hydrogen is 3 wt%. The improvement in dehydrogenation is due to the strong
amine cation that destabilizes borohydride by charge transfer.

Introduction
Hydrogen will certainly be the next generation energy
source because it represents an environmentally friendly,
abundant and high energy capacity source. Nowadays,hydrogen is stored as compressed gas or cryogenic
liquid [1]. In the last years, researchers have focused on
the development of solid hydrogen storage materials.
Complex hydrides, especially sodium and lithium
borohydride, have been studied due to their highgravimetric density (NaBH4: 10.7 wt%; LiBH4: 18.5 wt%)[2]. Despite they high capacity, thermal dehydrogenationof alkali borohydrides required high temperatures due totheir large dehydrogenation enthalpies (NaBH4 : >500°C;
LiBH4 : >350°C). In order to decrease the hydrogen
desorption temperature and improve the reversibility,
several methods have been investigated such as
nanosizing, partial ion substitution and catalyst doping. A
new approach is to use Ionic Liquid (IL) as
dehydrogenation
promoting
agent
[3],
becausepreparation of the borohydrides with IL is very convenientand no expensive rare earth metals are required. In thisstudy, we report the utilization of vinylbenzyltrimethyl
ammonium chloride ([VBTMA][Cl]) as catalytic agent forthe dehydrogenation of sodium borohydride. Ball-millingof [VBTMA][Cl] with sodium borohydride was performed,
studying the effect of ratio and ball-milling time. Also, thesynthesis of [VBTMA][BH4] was carried out by ion
exchange to create an organic salt containing
borohydride.

Results and discussion
The conditions of the ball-milling process were optimized
to obtain the higher hydrogen gravimetric ratio at low
temperature (below 200 °C). The desorption temperature

is fixed at 200°C. Mass ratio of 2:1 ([VBTMA][Cl]:NaBH4)
allows to have an onset desorption temperature as low
as 150°C, more than 300°C lower than the bulk material,
while maintaining the gravimetric density. Ball-milling
time plays also an important role. With longer mixing
time, increasing of particles size and decreasing theamount of hydrogen was confirmed. Hydrogen content of
more than 2 wt% was measured for the optimized ballmilled composite. To further increase the hydrogencontent, ions exchange reaction was done. Synthesized[VBTMA][BH4] shows similar dehydrogenation behavior
as the ball-milling sample which desorbed hydrogen at
low temperature with 3 wt% amount of hydrogen. The
strong cation is responsible of the huge improvement indehydrogenation
temperature,destabilizing
theborohydride anion by charge transfer.

References[1] Züttel, A. Materials Today 2003, 6 (9), 24–33.
[2] Orimo, S.; Nakamori, Y.; Eliseo, J. R.; Züttel, A.;
Jensen, C. M. Chem. Rev. 2007, 107 (10), 4111–
4132.
[3] Fu, H.; Wu, Y.; Chen, J.; Wang, X.; Zheng, J.; Li, X.
Inorg. Chem. Front. 2016, 3 (9), 1137–1145.

Born in 1992, Sion, Switzerland. Loris Lombardo graduated M.S degree in Molecular and Biological
Chemistry from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in 2017. During this time, heworked in the field of catalysis for CO2 reduction, water splitting and biomass conversion. His current
research is focused on complex hydride for hydrogen storage at EPFL, Switzerland.

Loris Lombardo
Corresponding author: Loris Lombardo, email: loris.lombardo@epfl.ch , Tel.: +41 21 69 58215

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

FORMIC ACID AS H2 CARRIER: STUDY OF LIQUID VS. GAS PHASE
DECOMPOSITION REACTION ON SUPPORTED Pd HETEROGENEOUS
CATALYSTS
G.M. Arzac, D. Hufschmidt, L. Alletsee, J. López-Viejobueno, A. Fernández*
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla (CSIC-Univ. Sevilla), Avda. Américo Vespucio 49, 41092-Sevilla, Spain.
Abstract: Formic acid is an advantageous liquid organic hydrogen carrier. In this work, we study its decomposition
reaction to generate hydrogen in the liquid and in the gas phase using Pd-based catalysts over different supports. The
requirements for the catalysts to be employed in both conditions and the role of metal-support interactions are discussed.

Introduction
Formic acid (FA) is a very interesting liquid organichydrogen carrier. It is relatively non-toxic, and can besynthesised by the reaction of CO2 with hydrogen or bybiomass decomposition [1]. It also has a high volumetricdensity (53gH2/L, 1.77kWh/L), being able to generatehydrogen through its catalytic dehydrogenation reaction(HCOOH→H2+CO2) to supply a Polymer Exchange
Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) [1]. Dehydration(HCOOH→H2O+CO) is an undesirable side reaction
because produces CO.
The present work is focused on the study of theheterogeneous catalytic FA decomposition in the liquid
and the gas phase. Pd-based catalysts were selected forthis study.

Results and discussion
Powdery 5 wt.% Pd catalysts were prepared by theadsorption-reduction method on TiO2 and activatedcarbon. The reaction was studied in the gas and theliquid phase. The gas phase reaction is thought for
stationary H2 generation and requires the use of a carrier
gas to dilute the formic acid. The liquid phase reaction
mimics the conditions of an on-board application, but
requires the use of highly active catalysts.
In the gas phase (5mg catalyst, 1.5 %v/v FA in N2) the
carbon supported catalyst was 100% selective while thetitania supported one produced significant amounts of
CO. Despite being less disperse, the 5Pd/C sample wasclearly more active suggesting favourable metal-support
interactions. Both catalysts were also tested in the liquid
phase by injecting 475Pl of FA on 100 mg catalyst at
60°C. Samples were equally 100% selective to FA
dehydrogenation but the titania supported one showed

ASUNCIÓN FERNÁNDEZ

negligible activity. These results confirm the activity trend
observed in the gas phase and indicate that selectivity todehydrogenation is favoured at low temperatures.
Carbon based-supports are thus ideal for this reaction
but additional effort should be done to improve thedispersion. Oxidation of the carbon support with HNO3
prior to metal adsorption permitted us to increase the Pd
dispersion, at the cost of the generation of high amountsof CO (10-20% depending on the temperature).

Conclusions
In this work, we have studied the catalytic FA
decomposition in the gas and the liquid phase. High
selectivity is required in the gas phase and high activity
and/or metal loadings are needed for the liquid phase.
Despite being less disperse, in both phases carbon
support permitted to produce more active Pd catalyst
than titania. Metal-support interactions are key for thisreaction.
New strategies should be conducted to fully understandthe role of carbon in the activity and selectivity tosynthesise highly active catalysts on carbonaceous
supports in a controllable and reproducible manner. In
this direction, we will introduce a prospective on how theMagnetron Sputtering technique [2] could be employed in
our laboratory for a rational design of active and selective
next generation catalysts for this reaction.

References[1] A.K. Singh, S. Singh, A. Kumar, Catal. Sci. Technol. 6(2016) 12–40.
[2] M. Paladini, V. Godinho, G.M. Arzac, M.C. Jiménez deHaro, A.M. Beltrán, A. Fernández, RSC Advances 6(2016) 95101-95111.

Born May 1958 in Vigo, Spain, Prof. Asunción Fernández graduated in Chemistry at the University ofCádiz (Spain) (1980) and in Physics at UNED (Spanish Open University) (1984). She carried out her
PhD work at Max-Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr (Germany) obtaining theDr. rer. nat. degree at the University of Dortmund (Germany) in June 1983 on the subject ofphotocatalytic H2 production from water solutions. In 1984 she joined the Materials Science Instituteof Seville (Spain), where she is leading the “Nanostructured Materials & Microstructure” group andthe “Advanced Laboratory for Nanoscopies and Spectroscopies”. Her actual research is devoted tothe application of magnetron sputtering, and plasma assisted methodologies, for the development of
nanocomposite structures and catalytic coatings for chemical energy storage and conversion.

*Corresponding author: Asunción Fernández, asuncion@icmse.csic.es, +34-954489531

2212th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

DUAL LAYER ELECTRODE MEMBRANE ASSEMBLY WITH HOLLOWSTRUCTURED-TIO2 AND ITS APPLICATION IN PROTON EXCHANGE
MEMBRANE FUEL CELL
Y.D. Ko, W.J. Kim*
Department of Materials Chemistry and Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk university, Neungdong-ro 120,
Gwangjingu, Seoul, Korea, 05029
Water management in proton exchange membrane fuel cell is considered as one of the critical factors in PEMFC. A selfhumidifying dual catalyst electrode comprising Pt/C and hollow structured Pt/TiO2 is installed at anode side. It functions
as the creation of water molecules consuming H 2 and O2 coming cross the membrane from the cathode side andfacilitates the zero-humidity cell operation. The effects of calcination temperature of hollow structured TiO2 nanoparticles
are investigated.

Introduction
Nowadays, Proton exchange membrane fuel cell
(PEMFCs) is a promising energy conversion devices forautomobiles and stationary power plant [1]. The main
component of PEMFC is the membrane electrodeassembly (MEA) that consists of two thin electrodes atboth sides of membrane. The most widely used Nafion
membrane should be properly humidified to facilitate theproton conduction [2]. So, a variety of studies are under
way for water management.
In this study, we report the cell performance of PEMFC
under various humidity for the MEAs fabricated with ahollow shell structured TiO2 and core shell structured
SiO2@ TiO2 materials synthesized by different size oftemplate and calcination temperature.

deposited onto SiO2@TiO2 and HTiO2 by microwave
treatment.

Results and discussions
As-synthesized hollow structured TiO2 and core-shellstructured SiO2@TiO2 particles were confirmed by FESEM and TEM analysis. The specific surface areas forvarious samples heat-treated at different temperatures
were determined by N2 adsorption. The BET surface
areas were found to decrease with calcination
temperature due to more agglomeration. The Cell
performance of the MEAs was also affected bycalcination temperature.
(a)

(b)

Experiments
For the synthesis both hollow shell structure and coreshell structure, 360 nm SiO2 was used as templatematerial. Silica nanoparticles were synthesized by themodified stöber method. Silica was then coated by
Lutensol AO5 as the surfactant. Titanium butoxide wasthen added to the solution and stirred at room
temperature for 1 d. The solution was centrifuged byadding water and washed twice. Centrifuged particles
were dispersed in water and aged for 3 d. After aging, it
was centrifuged again and dried at 50 oC in the oven andcalcined at various temperatures and finally SiO2@TiO2
particles were obtained. SiO2 was then leached by NaOH
solution and hollow structured TiO2(HTiO2) was made. To
use them as a electrochemical catalyst, platinum was

Fig.1 (a) FE-SEM image of hollow structured TiO2(b) TEM image of Pt-hollow structured TiO2 (Pt-HTiO2)

References[1] Wang Y, Chen KS, Mishler J, Cho SC, Adroher XC.
Applied Energy. 2011;88:981-1007.
[2] Choi P, Jalani NH, Datta R. J Electrochem Soc.
2005;152:E123-E30.

Youngdon Ko is a master candidate under the supervision by Professor W.J. Kim at the Materials
Chemistry and Engineering, konkuk university, Seoul, Korea. His current research works arefocused on the synthesis of various nanostructured electrochemical catalysts as well as different
carbon materials and their application to self-humidifying proton exchange membrane fuel cell.
Youngdon Ko*Corresponding author: Whajung Kim, email : whajungk@konkuk.ac.kr, Tel: +82 2 450 3502.

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12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

SELF-HUMIDIFYING MEMBRANE ELETRODE ASSEMBLY FABRICATEDBY DUAL LAYER ELECTRODE USING HOLLOW STRUCTURED-ZRO2
Y.D. Ko, W.J. Kim*
Department of Materials Chemistry and Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk university, Neungdong-ro 120,
Gwangjingu, Seoul, Korea, 05029
The hollow structured material has large specific surface area due to the shell formed by hydrophilic ZrO2 nanoparticles
with internal space. This property enhances water retention ability which is suitable for use as a self-humidifying dual
layer electrode material. In this study, the cell performance of the membrane electrode assembly comprising Pt/C and PtHZrO2 with the ability of creating water molecules and retaining was evaluated with H2 and O2 at various humidity
atmosphere including even zero humidity.

Introduction

Results and discussions

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) isalternative energy source to internal combustion engine.
There are several obstacles to overcome to improve
PEMFC performance. One of them is water management
inside membrane and electrode. Many researchers havefocused on self-humidifying composite membranes toimprove water retention ability [1].

H-ZrO2 was successively synthesized and confirmed by
SEM and TEM analysis. The hollow structure has highspecific surface area and impressive water uptake ability.
The MEA was manufactured by dual layer electrode incatalyst layer where Pt-HZrO2 layer is located between
outer Pt/C layer and membrane. Single cell test with dual
layer electrode exhibits excellent water retention ability at
low humidity and zero humidity. The role of Pt/C and PtHZrO2 layers were comprehensively investigated byvisual cell experiment. Pt-HZrO2 as a dual layer prevents
water flooding at cathode side through the absorption ofwater molecules generated from the ORR. Otherwise, thepower density was rapidly dropped due to water flooding
at cathode side. The Pt-HZrO2 at anode side is highly
prospective in the aspect of creating water molecules
consuming H2 and O2 coming cross the membrane fromthe cathode side, making the cell operation even underzero humidity.

Experiments
Silica nanoparticles were synthesized by a modified
stöber method. Synthesized silica nanoparticles wereadded to ethanol solution in round bottom flask andstirred for 1 h to which Lutensol AO5 surfactant wasadded before zirconium butoxide was added. After 1 day,the obtained colloidal solution was then centrifuged at
10,000 rpm for 90 s with the addition of D.I. water. The
residual particle was dried at 353 K in oven and calcinedat1073 K under air flow. To remove SiO2 from theinside of SiO2@TiO2 particles, SiO2@TiO2 particles werestirred in 1N NaOH solution. Pt nanoparticles were
deposited onto hollow structured ZrO2 (HZrO2).
The MEA consists of Pt/C and Pt/HZrO2 dual layerelectrode at the both anode and cathode or anode only.
Total Pt amount loaded in Pt-C and Pt-H-ZrO2 layers was
fixed at 0.2 mg cm-2 and 0.3 mg cm-2 for anode andcathode sides, respectively.

(a)

300
Volume adsorbed (cm3/g)

In this study, the platinum is deposited onto hollow
structured ZrO2 and the physical properties of theresulting Pt-HZrO2 are evaluated. Membrane electrodeassembly (MEA) using dual layer electrode wasfabricated for the self-humidifying PEMFC [2].

(b)
200

H-ZrO2100

SiO2@ZrO2
SiO2

0
0.0

0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Relative Pressure (P/Po)

1.0

Fig.1. (a) FE-SEM image of Hollow ZrO2,(b) Linear isotherm plot of H-ZrO2, SiO2@ZrO2 and SiO2

References[1] H.N. Yang, D.C. Lee, S.H. Park, W.J. Kim, J. Membr.
Sci., 443 (2013) 210-218.
[2] Y.D. Ko, H.N. Yang, A. Züttel, S.D. Kim, W.J. Kim, J.
Power Sources, 367 (2017) 8-16.

Professor Wha Jung Kim has worked at the department of Materials Chemistry and Engineering,
Konkuk university since 1990. His research has been focused on zeolite synthesis and its
application such as CO2 adsorption, heavy metal removal through ion exchange, catalytic reaction,
development of electrochemical catalysts and their application to PEMFC, His expertise isespecially toward the development of self-humidifying catalyst and membrane.
*Corresponding author: whajungk@konkuk.ac.kr, Tel: +82 2 450 3502

Wha Jung Kim

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOR OF GALLIUM(III) AND INDIUM(III) IN AN
IONIC LIQUID
Jie Zhang1,3, Maozhong An2, Mariana Spodaryk1,3, Andreas Züttel1,31École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais/Wallis, 1951 Sion, Switzerland
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
3
EMPA Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
2

Electrodeposition is a simple, low cost, and easily industrialized method to prepare the gallium, indium, and their alloys,
which show versatile applications in renewable energy related areas, such as CuInGaSe thin film solar cell [1] and CO2
reduction [2]. Gallium electrodeposition from aqueous solution is difficult to controll because of the high overpotential andsimultaneous hydrogen evolution reaction. The properties of large electrochemical window and almost non-volatility giveionic liquid great advantage for electrodepositing gallium-like metals. Therefore, We studied the electrodeposition behav3+
3+iour of Ga and In ions in 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BMIM][TfO]) ionic liquid in order toestablish the foundation for the preparation of gallium and indium related materials by electrodeposition.
Cyclic voltammetry study shows that both temperatureand electrode material have a great impact on the elec3+
troreduction kinetics of Ga ions in [BMIM][TfO] ionic-8
liquid. We obtain the diffusion coefficients (1.15 × 10
2
-1
3+
cm s ) of Ga ions and diffusion activation energy(47.11 KJ/mol) using three methods involving rotating
disk electrode: (1) linear scanning voltammetry at various
rotating speeds; (2) chronoamperometry with staircaseincreased rotating speed; (3) sample current method ateach rotating speed. The initial electrocrystallization ofgallium on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) involves an
instantaneous nucleation process, which is demonstrated
by using non-linear fitting theoretical function to the current transients and SEM images of the initial deposition
stage on GCE (Fig.1.). SEM images reveal that gallium
deposits are composed of spherical particles because of
the low melting point (around 30℃) of metal gallium. With
increase of temperature spherical particles become larger, while no significant change is observed in the morphology of gallium deposits when temperature is above
40℃. At room temperature increasing overpotential results in more porous gallium film. The effect of potential
and temperature on the morphology of gallium deposits
was revealed by SEM images. Similar methods are employed to investigate the electrodeposition process of
indium in the same ionic liquid. There is an interestingA

C

B

Fig.1. SEM images of the initial stages of gallium electrodeposition with deposition time (A) 1s and (B) 2s at -1.6 V vs Pt (70℃).
(C) Fitted current transients for nucleation kinetics parameters.

result, that we obtained octahedral indium particles byelectrodeposition, which might be related to the interaction between [BMIM][TfO] and different oriented surfacesof indium (Fig.2.).

Fig.2. SEM images of the indium deposits (a), (d) at -1.6 V, (b),(e) at -1.9 V, (f) Molecular dynamic simulation results of[BMIM][TfO] on indium(002).

References[1] Malaquias, J. C.; Steichen, M. et al., Electrodepositionof Cu–In alloys from a choline chloride based deep
eutectic solvent for photovoltaic applications. Electrochim
Acta 2013, 103 (0), 15-22.
[2] Torelli, D. A.; Francis, S. A. et al., Nickel–GalliumCatalyzed Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Highly
Reduced Products at Low Overpotentials. ACS Catalysis
2016, 6 (3), 2100-2104.
[3] Zhang, J.; An, M. et al., Electrochemical Study of the
Diffusion and Nucleation of Gallium(III) in [Bmim][TfO]
Ionic Liquid. Electrochim Acta 2016, 190, 1066-1077.
[4] Zhang, J.; An, M.et al, Communication—Octahedral
Indium Particles Synthesized by Electrodeposition from
1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Trifluoromethanesulfonate
Ionic Liquid. J Electrochem Soc 2016, 163 (13), D707D709.

thBorn 24 of January 1989 in Zaoyang, China
2013 Bachelor Degree in Harbin Institute of Technology, China
2015 Master Degree in Harbin Institute of Technology, China
2015 - 2016 Quality Engineer in TP-LINK Technologies Co., Ltd., China
2016 – 2017 Research assistant in Southern University of Science and Technology, China
January 2018 - Present PhD student at EPFL, Valais SB ISIC - LMER in Sion, Switzerland
Jie Zhang

Corresponding author: Jie Zhang, email: jie.zhang@epfl.ch

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

INVESTIGATION OF GAS-SURFACE INTERACTION OF WELL-DEFINEDMODEL CATALYSTS FOR CO2 HYDROGENATION
Mo Li, Wen Luo, Andreas Züttel
Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy (LMER), Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), École
polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL Valais/Wallis, Switzerland
Abstract CO2 hydrogenation is attractive in view of eliminating global environment issues associated with traditional
syngas feedstock production and mitigating global warming. However, there exists a high demand for efficient catalysts
in such alternative process. The lack of in-depth understanding of gas-surface interactions limit the rational developmentof such catalysts. In this project, the interaction between CO2 and well-defined model catalysts, from metal single crystals
to clusters, will be investigated on both ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and in operando conditions with the state-of-the-art
surface analysis techniques, allowing for improved understanding of relevant catalytic reactions and the development of
surface-activity relationships.

Introduction
CO2 hydrogenation combines the utilization of the mostabundant greenhouse gas and the one of the mostpromising renewable energy carriers, and thus becomes
attractive to researchers in catalytic engineering andsurface science. Novel catalysts need to be developed
because the traditional Cu-ZnO-Al2O3 system exhibits
limited activity in CO2 hydrogenation. However, the poor
understanding of CO2-surface interaction, especially
under industrially relevant conditions, limits the rational
development of highly active catalysts for such reactions.
Therefore, an investigation on the surface chemistry of
CO2 with the state-of-the-art techniques would establish apillar for the rational development of catalysts for CO2hydrogenation.

Surface chemistry of CO2
CO2-surface interactions have been widely studied on
metal and metal oxides surfaces under UHV conditions.
Two main reaction pathways for adsorbing CO2 on solid
surfaces are physisorption and carbonate formation,
where the latter one connects directly with CO2hydrogenation. On metal surfaces, carbonate formation
has only been reported for coadsorption systems, suchas CO2 and oxygen, while metal oxide surfaces exhibit
more activity due to the existence of lattice oxygen andoxygen defects. An increasing number of publications
focus more on investigating the surface interactions
under industrially relevant conditions with well-definedmodel systems prepared by advanced nanofabrication

Mo Li

techniques, which would bridge surface science andindustrial catalysis.

From UHV to near ambient
In this project, CO2-surface interactions will be thoroughly
investigated by in operando surface analysis techniqueswith well-defined model catalysts fabricated by cluster
sources. For the commission and validation of system,
CO2-metal interactions will be studied with popular metals
under UHV condition and compared with literature.
Afterwards, a near ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) will be utilized investigating
CO2-surface interactions under industrially relevant
conditions. At the same time, well-defined model
catalysts with flexible compositions will be prepared bycluster sources for such investigations, which offers clues
for the development of highly active catalysts for CO2hydrogenation. Such investigations would improveunderstanding relevant catalytic reactions and developing
novel surface-activity relationships.

References[1] O. Martin, A.J. Martín, C. Mondelli, S. Mitchell, T.F.
Segawa, R. Hauert, C. Drouilly, D. Curulla-Ferré, J.
Pérez-Ramírez, Indium oxide as a superior catalyst
for methanol synthesis by CO2 hydrogenation,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 55 (2016) 6261–6265.
[2] U. Burghaus, Surface chemistry of CO2 – Adsorptionof carbon dioxide on clean surfaces at ultrahighvacuum, Progress in Surface Science. 89 (2014)
161–217.

Born in 1988 in Shenyang, China, Mo Li graduated with a BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineeringfrom Dalian University of Technology in 2012 and 2015, respectively. During this time, he conducted
projects focusing on membrane technology for gas separation and the synthesis andcharacterization of nanostructures for catalysis. He then went on to pursue PhD studies in ETH
Zurich in 2015 working on projects for developing highly stable CaO-based CO2 sorbents andunderstanding the interaction of gases with the surface of metal-oxide gas sensors by in situ infrared
spectroscopy. In 2017, he moved to EPFL Valais and continued with his PhD focusing on gassurface interaction and XPS.

Corresponding author: Prof. Dr. Andreas Züttel, email: andreas.zuettel@epfl.ch, Tel.: +41 21 695 8210

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Hydrogen Storage in Metal Organic Frameworks
Fatma Pelin Kinik,a Berend Smit,a Kyriakos C. Stylianoua
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC)
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais)
Rue de l’industrie 17, 1951 Sion (Switzerland). E-mail: kyriakos.stylianou@epfl.cha.

Abstract
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline porous materials which consist of metal-based building blocks linked byorganic ligands. They have drawn attention for hydrogen storage in the last two decades because of their attractive
properties such as high surface areas, adjustable pore sizes and tunable framework-adsorbate interaction by varying
organic ligands and metal ions. Although MOFs show remarkable hydrogen uptake at cryogenic temperatures, the storage
capacities at room temperature are generally less than 1 wt% due to the weak interactions between H 2 molecules and the
MOFs. The current target for MOFs is to reach a high hydrogen storage density with an acceptable pressure and at nearambient temperatures. With this aim, different strategies such as introduction of coordinatively unsaturated metal sites,
functionalization of ligands, increasing the surface area and pore volume, impregnation of metal nanoparticles have beenstudied in the recent years.1,2References[1] Langmi, H. W.; Ren, J.; North, B.; Mkhulu, M.;
Bessarabov, D. Electrochimica Acta 2013, 128, 368.

[2] Suh, M.P.; Park, H.J.; Prasad, T.K.; Lim, D.W.
Chemical Reviews 2011, 112, 782.

Address : Rue de Lausanne 6, Sion 1950, Valais, Switzerland
Phone : 0041 (0) 76 245 03 23
Mail : fatma.kinik@epfl.ch
Date of birth : 24/07/1992
Nationality : Turkish

Fatma Pelin
Kinik

x

1st year PhD student in Laboratory of Molecular Simulation (LSMO) at École polytechnique
fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)x

Master’s Degree : Chemical and Biological Engineering at Koc University
Thesis: ‘Tuning Gas Adsorption and Separation Performances of ZIF-8 by [BMIM][PF6]Incorporation’

Research Interests:
Synthesis
andcharacterizationof
metal
investigation for hydrogen production and storage.

organic

frameworks

and

their

Publications:x[BMIM][PF6] Incorporation Doubles CO2 Selectivity of ZIF-8: Elucidation of Interactions
and Their Consequences on Performance. F. P. Kinik, C. Altintas, V. Balci, B. Koyuturk,
A. Uzun, S. Keskin. Applied Materials & Interfaces 2016, 8, 30992.

x

Ionic Liquid/Metal Organic Framework Composites: From Synthesis to Applications.
F. P. Kinik, A. Uzun, S. Keskin. ChemSusChem 2017, 10, 2842.

x

Improving Gas Separation Performance of ZIF-8 by [BMIM][BF4] Incorporation:
Interactions and Their Consequences on Performance. B. Koyuturk, C. Altintas, F. P.
Kinik, S. Keskin, A. Uzun. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2017, 121, 10370.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ENERGY STORAGE WITH HYDROGEN AND HYDROCARBONS
Andreas ZÜTTEL, Noris GALLANDAT, Heena YANG, Mariana SPODARYK
1)Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy (LMER), Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL Valais/Wallis, Switzerland.
2)
EMPA Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
With the increasing fraction of renewable energy in the global energy economy storage becomes increasingly important.
While today renewable energy contributes less than 10% to the energy demand, the current exponential growth ofphotovoltaics extrapolated indicates that in 2025 the installed peak power of photovoltaics corresponds to the worldenergy demand of 2016 (18 TW). Therefore, large hydrogen production, as well as hydrogen storage are required in the
coming years. Furthermore, economic and resource analysis lead to the conclusion, that global seasonal energy storageas well as air transport require the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere and reactors to convert CO2 and hydrogen into
liquid hydrocarbons or ethanol.

Renewable Energy
With the increasing fraction of renewable energy in the
global energy economy storage becomes increasingly
important. While today renewable energy contributes lessthan 10% to the energy demand, the current exponential
growth of photovoltaics extrapolated indicates that in
2025 the installed peak power of photovoltaics
corresponds to the world energy demand of 2016 (18TW).

half of the annual energy demand. In Switzerland theaverage annual electricity demand is approx. 10
MWh/capita and the energy demand slightly less than 60
MWh/capita incl. nuclear, jet fuel, and embedded energy.
A seasonal storage is in the range of 5 - 30 MWh/capita(corresponds to 500 - 3000 l of oil). This corresponds to 1
- 6 kW/capita power into the storage during half of theyear. Since the time for the storage cycle is one year thecost of the storage material is crucial for the economy of
the store. In the form of hydrocarbons the cost is 0.1€/kWh, as hydrogen 0.25 €/kWh, in Pb-acid batteries 175€/kWh and in Li-ion batteries 273 €/kWh [2].

Conclusion
Only hydrogen and synthetic fuel are the options forseasonal storage and therefore, devices to convert
electricity into hydrogen i.e. electrolysrs as well asreactors to convert hydrogen into hydrocarbons have tobe developed on a large scale together with the CO2 air
capture.

References[1] http://cleantechnica.com/2016/08/17/10-solar-energyfacts-charts-everyone-know/
Fig. 1 Installed peak power for photovoltaic [1], wind andhydropower and there extrapolation.

Energy Storage[2] https://data.bloomberglp.com/bnef/sites/14/
2017/07/BNEF-Lithium-ion-battery-costs-andmarket.pdf

A complete coverage of the energy demand withrenewable energy requires a seasonal storage of up to

Andreas ZÜTTEL

Born 22. 8. 1963 in Bern, Switzerland. 1985 Engineering Degree in Chemistry, Burgdorf,
Switzerland. 1990 Diploma in Physics from the Unversity of Fribourg (UniFR), Switzerland. 1993
Dr. rer. nat. from the science faculty UniFR. 1994 Post Doc with AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill,
New Jersey, USA. 1997 Lecturer at the Physics Department UniFR. 2003 External professor at the
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2004 Habilitation in experimental physics at thescience faculty UniFR. President of the Swiss Hydrogen Association „HYDROPOLE“. 2006 Headof the section “Hydrogen & Energy” at EMPA and Prof. tit. in the Physics department UniFR. 2009
Guest Professor at IMR, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. 2012 Visiting Professor at Delft
Technical University, The Netherlands, 2014 Full Professor for Physical Chemsitry, Institut desSciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),
Switzerland.

Corresponding author: Andreas ZÜTTEL, email: aandreas.zuettel@epfl.ch, Tel. +41 21 695 8210

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES AND SYNTHETIC FUELS – FROM THE
LAB TO THE MARKET
Noris Gallandat*, François Abbet**, Emanuele Moioli**, Claudio Ruch*, Andreas Züttel***GRZ Technologies Ltd., Switzerland, ** Laboratory for Materials in Renewable Energy, EPFL, Switzerland
Two examples of pilot plants for the production ofsynthetic hydrocarbons are presented. First, the design
and build of a demonstrator for the conversion of solar
energy to synthetic hydrocarbons is presented. The
average power of the installation is set to 2 kW, whichcorresponds to the global energy consumption of a single
person. The main components of the system arephotovoltaic cells, batteries, an electrolyser, a metal
hydride storage and compression system, a CO2 capture
unit and chemical reactors. The installation allows
studying the energy flows and reservoirs and theinteraction between different components, comparing theperformance of competing technologies and establishingan energetic and economic database from the real world.
Further, the operating parameters such as pressure,temperatures and energy flows are recorded at different
locations to enable for system modeling and advanced
optimization techniques to be applied on real data. The
second pilot plant aims at improving the overall energetic
efficiency of gas metering and regulating stations

positioned as interface between the transmission (50-70bar) and distribution (5 bar) grids. The goal of this projectis to combine the use of renewable waste heat with the
production of synthetic methane in order to partiallyreplace the conventionally used natural gas boiler. Waste
heat from the electrolyser and the chemical reactor isrecovered to pre-warm the incoming stream of natural
gas prior to the expansion. The proposed system not only
prevents the consumption of natural gas, but instead
produces synthetic, renewable methane. Finally, thefundraising, founding and development of a tech startup(GRZ Technologies Ltd.) aiming at commercializing someof the technologies mentioned above will be presented.

References[1] N. Gallandat et al., “Small-scale demonstration of theconversion of renewable energy to synthetichydrocarbons,” Sustain. Energy Fuels, 2017.

Figure 1: Layout of the Small-Scale Demonstration Plant of Solar Energy to Synthetic
Hydrocarbon Conversion.
Noris Gallandat graduated with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology Zurich (ETHZ) in 2012. He then went on to pursue graduate studies as a Fulbright
Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he obtained MSc and PhD degrees in 2015.
His doctoral thesis focused on the enhancement of ambient heat rejection in passive thermal
management systems. In 2016, he joined the Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy at
EPFL Valais as a postdoctoral fellow. In March 2017, he co-founded GRZ Technologies Ltd., a techstartup aiming at commercializing hydrogen-related technologies.
Corresponding author: Noris Gallandat, noris.gallandat@grz-technologies.com

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SYSTEM ASPECTS OF POWER-TO-GASDavid Martinet, Christoph Ellert
HES-SO Valais, Systèmes Industriels, CH-1950 Sion, Route de Rawil 47
Abstract For the efficient conversion of electricity into fuel (liquid or gaseous) the system components play a crucial rolein order to achieve the highest efficiencies. The work at the HESS-SO focusses on optimizing the electrical conversion
elements as well as other system components in the in the entire power chain from solar panels to the final fuel, like forexample the DC/DC converters. Presently at HESSO Valais we are setting up a laboratory scale demonstrator, covering
the entire power conversion starting from solar energy all the way to the final gaseous product, in our case methane.

Motivation and aim
In recent years, the total installed power of photovoltaic
and wind generators has increased considerably [1]. This
trend towards renewable power generation will continue
as the costs of the key components continue todecrease. Consequently, the need for short and longterm storage becomes more urgent. On the one hand,batteries well suited for daily storage are technicallymature and on track to become economically viable. On
the other hand, power-to-gas is the only available longterm (seasonal) storage method and needs to advance interms of technical maturity and return of investment.
While the technology of the components is well known,
the integration in an entire power chain at a reasonable
return on investment needs combined efforts from thebasic research level up to the system level. As it
corresponds to the nature of our University of Applied
Sciences HESSO Valais in Sion we focus on systemaspects in power conversion and interfaces to improve
efficiency, lifetime of system components andemployability of the technology like ease of installationand maintenance.

System description
The main components of the integrated power-to-gas
demonstrator system have been installed: a photovoltaic
power plant of 20 kW, the battery storage system
consisting of Lithium and Pb-gel batteries totalling morethan 50 kWh storage capacity, a 700 Volt DC-bus link, anelectrolyzer and a méthanation reactor. The individualcomponents are presently operated independently thesystem integration is under way [2]. Whereas the setup
ad integration of the entire system requires considerable
efforts, we focus here on the Power-to- gas components,
in particular the electrolyser and the méthanation system.

In order to reduce investment costs, the electrolyser
should be dimensioned to about 5 percent of the installed
PV-power, since the available power available from thePV-generator averaged over an entire year isapproximately 1/8 of the installed peak power.
Furthermore, connected consumers will immediately
consume 1/3 of this available power while another 1/3
can be stored in a reasonably dimensioned battery
system for power shifting over short time intervals. As
electrolyzer, we installed one stack each of alkaline andPEM technology we decided to install both types, sincealkaline still has cost and efficiency advantages overPEM, even though power density is lower. While thealkaline stack requires more space compared to a PEM
stack of equivalent power output, the surrounding systemcomponents are quite comparable for our power range ofabout 300 W. While an alkaline electrolyser requires thechemically aggressive solution (generally 30% KOH), a
PEM stack cannot be operated without a thoroughly
designed deionization stage to achieve the required
purity of as low as 0.1 µS/cm to avoid degradation of thecatalysts.

References[1] Photovoltaics report, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy systems, ISE, 12 July 2017;www.ise.fraunhofer.de[2] Ch.Ellert, R. Horta, T. Sterren, D.Gabioud, D.Roggo,
P-O. Moix, Semi-autonomous DC-microgrid for >50%
ndrenewable energy, 2 international conference on DC
microgrids, ICDCM, Nürnberg, 2017;1995 PhD University Freiburg, Spectroscopy of alkaline clusters;
1996/97 NRC Ottawa, 1998/99 CEA Saclay, Paris, Ultrashort high intensity lasers
2000/03 TiNOx,München, R&D in thin films for Solar thermal collectors
2004/10 Oerlikon Solar, R&D PECVD reactor development for large thin film silicon photovoltaics
modules,
Christoph Ellert

Since 2010 HESSO Valais, Integration of PV in local microgrids, renewable hydrogen andmethanation

Corresponding author: Christoph Ellert, christoph.ellert@hevs.ch, Tel. +41 27 606 8742

30

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Physics for Economy,
Latest Recognition about the Role of Hydrogen in the Industry and the Society
Katsuhiko Hirose
International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research, Energy Analysis Div. Kyushu University, Japan

Abstract Hydrogen will play an important role in the coming low-carbon sustainable society. However energy transitionneeds innovative ideas of both science and economy. In order to enhance hydrogen based energy transition industry
builds a new multi continent multi sectorial association Hydrogen Council. Council lead the quantitative study of thisenergy transition. Introducing the result and also explain the idea behind.;Hydrogen in the Energy Transition
We have been talking about sustainability for years.
Previously sustainability means just countermeasure forthe exhaust of resources such as oil, however we now
need to discuss sustainability of our life which consist ofenvironmentally sustainable (clean), energy sustainable
and economical sustainable (continuity). At the sametime we are also facing the global warming issue which
we no longer use fossil fuel without neutralizing
technologies such as carbon sequestration. Future will bea maximum use of renewable energy and minimum useof fossil energy thus hybrid of electricity and hydrogen
However this recognition is well known among theengineers and scientists but not by the government andmedias thus citizens. Early last year (2017) industry
formed Hydrogen Council together with 13 large
companies in multi sectors and different locations. Now it
expanded to 20+ world leading companies It conductedstudy about the role of hydrogen in the 2050 and backcasting the necessary actions till 2030 to achieve thetarget in 2050. I am involved that study as a co-chair ofworking group. I will explain the role of hydrogen inquantitatively and also explain the related business value
and jobs. In 2050 18% of energy and 7Gt of GHG
reduction are expected and creating 2.5 Trillion $ of value
and 30 million jobs. De-carbonization is not a justexpense for the environment but also a creating a new
business thus jobs. (Fig1,Fig.2)
In the past once hydrogen changed the world bycombined with nitrogen and it changed the agriculture
drastically as a fertilizer. Now hydrogen is going change
the world into low carbon sustainable world. We are living
the exciting time of transition. At the same time we as

scientists and engineers lot of works are in front of us tohelp and accelerate this transition.
‚ Fig1 Role of Hydrogen toward Low-carbon Society

Fig.2 Potential of hydrogen in 2050 in business andenvironment;

References[1] [2] WWW.hydrogencouncil.com

Educated as a physicist from Nagoya University Japan, joined Toyota in ’81 since then working
always front line of technologies including first commercial 4valve engine control, hybrid system, andfuel cell vehicle. Same time initiating several initiatives such as H2mobility in Germany. UK,US andlatest Hydrogen Council.

KatsuhikoHiroseCurrently a professional partner of Toyota for the promotion of hydrogen and FCV as well as avisiting professor of International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research of Kyushu University.

Corresponding author: katsuhiko_hirose_aa@mail.toyota.co.jp

31

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

SINGLE LAYER NANOPOROUS
HYDROGEN PURIFICATIONEPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

GRAPHENE

MEMBRANESFOR

Kumar Varoon Agrawal
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Abstract: Nanoporous single-layer suspended graphene films have been predicted to be the ultimate membranes,
capable of providing orders of magnitude higher permeance that that from the state-of-the-art membranes. In thisrespect, the development of methods of fabricate crack- and tear-free suspended graphene films that possess sizeselective pores with a narrow pore-size-distribution is highly attractive. Here we report a highly-scalable, nanoporous
2
carbon mediated, crack- and tear-free graphene transfer technique, leading to successful fabrication of 1 mm -sized
-7
-2 -1
-1
single-layer graphene membranes. Attractive gas sieving performance (H2 permeance up to 4.1 x 10 mol m s Pa
with H2/CH4 and H2/SF6 selectivities up to 25 and 100, respectively) were achieved from graphene film with a minusculeporosity of 0.025%. Membranes performance of stable during multiple cycles of heating and cooling, and at least up tomoderate transmembrane pressure differences (7 bar). Use of gas mixture feed did not reduce either the H2 permeanceor the H2/CH4 separation selectivity. Finally, we report post-synthetic performance tuning of the graphene membrane byozone-functionalization, improving H2 permeance (up to 300%) as well as H2/CH4 selectivities (up to 150%). Overall, themethods developed here can be instrumental to realize large-scale deployment of the nanoporous two-dimensional
membranes.

References[1] Koenig, S. P., Wang, L., Pellegrino, J. & Bunch, J. S.
Selective molecular sieving through porous graphene.
Nat. Nanotechnol. 7, 728–732 (2012).
[2] Wang, L. et al. Fundamental transport mechanisms,
fabrication and potential applications of nanoporous

atomically thin membranes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 12,
509–522 (2017).
[3] Agrawal, K. V. et al. Fabrication, Pressure Testing,and Nanopore Formation of Single-Layer Graphene
Membranes. J. Phys. Chem. C 121, 14312–14321(2017).

Short CV:
Prof. Agrawal is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences andEngineering (ISIC) at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He is heading thelaboratory of advanced separations (LAS), where his research group is developing synthetic routes
for the two-dimensional nanoporous membranes with a precise control of nanopore size andfunctionality.
He received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 2005. Following
this, he joined the global R&D division of Procter & Gamble in Kobe, Japan, where he worked on the
product design (2005-2008). Kumar joined the University of Minnesota to pursue a PhD degree inchemical engineering (2008-2013). The thesis work on development of zeolite nanosheets led toseveral high-impact publications (2 in Science, Advanced Materials, 3 in Angewandte ChemieInternational Edition, Nature Communication, etc.) He joined Strano group at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) as a postdoctoral researcher (2014) where he studied the effect ofnanoconfinement on the phase transition of fluids leading to a publication in Nature Nanotechnology,
and several others.
Prof. Agrawal is the recipient of several awards including IIT Bombay Institute Silver Medal (2005),
Manudhane Best Undergraduate Student award (2005), University of Minnesota Doctoral Degree
Fellowship (2012), Sigma Xi Award (2013), the AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student
Research Award (2013), etc.

Corresponding author: Kumar Varoon Agrawal
Email: kumar.agrawal@epfl.ch
Telephone: +41216958308

32

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

SYNERGISTIC STUDIES OF NOVEL BATTERY MATERIALS
Hans Hagemanna, Arndt Remhofb, Jan Embsc, Zbigniew Lodzianad
aDept. of Physical Chemistry, Univ. of Geneva, bEMPA, Dübendorf, cPSI, Villigen, d IFJ, Cracow, Poland

Abstract: In the context of a Sinergia project financed by the SNF, we are studying interactively novel battery materials. As
an example, we present our results on a novel efficient sodium ionic conductor (Na2B10H10-Na2B12H12) associated with
fundamental synthetic, structural and spectroscopic studies of closoboranes. A prototype Na battery with this material has
been assembled and revealed excellent properties,

Introduction
The research of novel battery materials is of great interestin the context of a changing approach towards energy
supply. The research of our consortium addresses not only
sodium, but also lithium and magnesium batteries. For
clarity, only results for sodium are presented here.

Sodium closoboranes and their properties
Following the discovery of superionic conduction observedfor Na2B12H12 above its phase transition, a significant
research effort was undertaken to achieve higher ionic
conductivity at ambient temperatures. The detailed studyof the mixed system Na2B10H10 – Na2B12H12 over the entire
composition range [1] allowed to identify the mixed
compound Na2(B10H10)0.5(B12H12)2 as an efficient sodium
ionic conductor with a conductivity of 0.9 mS cm-1 at 20 °C
associated with a high thermal and electrochemical
stablitity.
In parallel, structural constraints to achieve high ionic
conductivity in closoboranes has been addressed
theoretically [2].
High pressure X-ray diffraction of Na2B12H12 reveals twohigh pressure phase transitions triggered by shear modesin the crystal.
The synthesis of closoboranes starting from NaBH 4 has
been explored using different approaches based on
combined mechano-thermal and solvo-thermal methods.
First successful experiments using tetrabutylammonium
borohydride (TBABH4) to form in a first step TBA(B3H8)
have been carried out, which is later converted into
NaB3H8 and in another solvothermal treatment toNa2B12H12. [3]A new procedure using tetraethylammonium (TEA) ionsallows us to form directly a mixture of (TEA)2B10H10 and of(TEA)2B12H12 which can in principle be separated by
selective crystallization. Considering the high ionic

conductivity of Na2(B12H12-B10H10), it could be possible toprepare this compound directly by cation exchange fromthe TEA mixture.

Prototype Na battery
A stable 3 V all solid state Na battery was assembled using
the closoborane electrolyte described above in
combination with a sodium anode and a NaCrO2 cathode.
Stable cycling performance with more than 85% capacity
retention after 250 cycles at C/5 has been demonstrated[4].
This work is supported by the Sinergia Project “Novel Ionic
conductors” CRSII2_160749/1 of the SNF.

References[1] L. Duchéne, R.-S. Kühnel, D. Rentsch, A. Remhof, H.
Hagemann and C. Battaglia, “A highly stable sodium
solid-state electrolyte based on a dodeca/deca-borate
equimolar mixture”, Chem. Commun., 53 4195,(2017).
[2] Y. Sadikin, P. Schouwink, M. Brighi, Z. Łodziana, R.
Černý “Modified Anion Packing of Na2B12H12 in Closeto Room Temperature Superionic Conductors”
Inorganic Chemistry, 56 5006 (2017).
[3] R. Moury, A. Gigante, and H. Hagemann “Analternative approach to the synthesis of NaB3H8 andNa2B12H12 for solid electrolyte applications”,
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42 2241722421 (2017).
[4] L. Duchêne, R. S. Kühnel, A. Remhof, E. Stilp, E.
Cuevo Reyes, H. Hagemann, and C. Battaglia, A
stable 3 V all-solid-state sodium–ion battery based ona closo-borate electrolyte Energy and Environmental
Science, 10, 2609, (2017).

Hans Hagemann is associate professor in the department of physical chemistry at the University ofGeneva. He is actively studying hydrogen containing compounds (boron-hydrogen, aluminumhydrogen) since more than 15 years, combining synthetic chemistry with spectroscopy,
crystallography, theoretical chemistry and other physical methods. He is also interested in luminescent
properties of inorganic compounds.
H. Hagemann
Corresponding author: Hans Hagemann, hans-rudolf.hagemann@unige.ch Tel 022 3796539

33

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

THE ROLE OF FORMIC ACID AND METHANOL IN THE HYDROGENSOCIETY
Cornel Fink, Gábor Laurenczy
EPFL, SB ISIC LCOM, BCH, Lausanne, Switzerland
Efficient and reliable hydrogen storage technologies are most needed for a future hydrogen society. Besides the costeffectiveness of the method, also robustness, simplicity and scalability are significant key factors for its acceptance. The
homogeneous catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide in aqueous media with molecular hydrogen to formic acid (FA) and its
dehydrogenation on demand fulfills many of these requirements. One important aspect is how efficiently energy can be
stored and what are the losses involved by the method itself. To shed some light on this concealed processes, we studied
fundamental thermodynamic properties of formic acid dehydrogenation by means of calorimetry and multi-nuclear NMR
spectroscopy;[1]In face of global warming and rapid climate change, theworld is looking for alternative ways to satisfy ourconstantly growing demand for energy. Harvesting powerfrom renewable energy sources is seen as one of the mostpromising solutions. The fluctuating nature and seasonalchanges of the underlying phenomena require means ofstorage. The formic acid hydrogen storage cycle offers
properties which makes it suitable system for hydrogenstorage and delivery on demand.[2]The homogeneous catalytic reduction of carbon dioxidewith hydrogen yields in a first reduction step formic acid(53 g/L H2). Under the suitable conditions, the reaction
continues to methanol, storing two equivalents ofhydrogen, which makes the compound a more favorable
fuel for mobile application since the gravimetric energy
density is higher (99 g/L H2).[3]

Homogeneous catalysts for FA dehydrogenation are wellstudied and exist in great number.[4] It is well known thatthe dehydrogenation of formic acid is an endothermic
process. Driven by the entropic term, including theliberation of two mole equivalents of gas, the reaction
occurs by absorbing energy from its environment.
Pressurized reaction calorimetry is a well-suited tool tofollow this process and even more to quantify the heat flow
necessary to dehydrogenate a defined quantity of formic
acid. Based on this measurements, thermodynamic datafor catalytic formic acid dehydrogenation under realistic
conditions is obtained, which are important tools forplanning formic acid storage devices.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]

[4]

C. Fink, S. Katsyuba, G. Laurenczy, PCCP 2016,
18, 10764-10773.
K. Sordakis, C. Tang, L.K. Vogt, H. Junge, Chem
Rev 2017. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00182
K. Sordakis, A. Tsurusaki, M. Iguchi, H.
Kawanami, Chemistry – A European Journal
2016, 22, 15605-15608.
C. Fink, G. Laurenczy, Dalton Transactions 2017,46, 1670-1676.

Figure 1 The carbon dioxide – formic acid – methanol cycle forhydrogen storage and delivery.

Cornel Fink finished his undergraduate studies in the University of Vienna, including an Erasmus stayin Sweden, Gothenburg University. After an Erasmus Praktikum at the EPFL in the Group of Prof. Kay
Severin, he started his PhD also at the EPFL in the GCEE group under the supervision of Prof. Gábor
Laurenczy.

Cornel Fink

34

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

CO2 CAPTURE AND ITS INTEGRATION INTO CATALYTIC
PROCESSES TO PRODUCE HYDROGEN
A. Armutlulu, M.A. Naeem, S.M. Kim, F. Donat, A.M. Kierzkowska and C.R. Müller
Laboratory of Energy Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich,
Leonhardstrasse 21, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland

There is significant scientific evidence that climate change is linked to the increasing concentration of CO2 in theatmosphere. A possible mid-term solution to mitigate climate change is to capture CO2 and store it underground ingeological formations (CCS). Depending on the operating temperature of the CO 2 capture process, different classes ofsorbents have been proposed. This talk is concerned with the use of alkali earth metal oxides, in particular CaO, as CO 2
sorbents. In the beginning of the talk we will introduce challenges associated with the use of CaO-based CO2 sorbents,
such as the sintering-induced decay of their cyclic CO2 uptake capacity or kinetic limitations due to product layer formation.
This will be followed by recent advances made by our research group in fabricating more effective CO 2 sorbents andelucidating the fundamentals of key deactivation mechanisms. In the last part of our talk we will present examples of how
CO2 capture can be integrated into catalytic reactions to yield high purity hydrogen or a synthesis gas in a single step.

After graduation at the University of Cambridge in 2008, having performed fundamental studies on
fluidized bed reactors, Christoph Müller took up a junior research fellowship at Queens’ College,
University of Cambridge, investigating calcium and chemical looping-based CO2 capture processes.
In 2010, he established his own research group at ETH Zürich. In 2015 he was promoted to tenured
associate professor at the same institution. Christoph Müller heads the Laboratory of Energy Scienceand Engineering. The three main research areas of the laboratory are: (i) CO2 capture, (ii)heterogeneous catalysis and (iii) multi-phase granular systems.

Corresponding author: Christoph Müller, muelchri@ethz.ch, Tel. +41 44 632 3440

35

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

Mg(BH4)2 : SYNTHESIS, NANOCONFINEMENT AND CATALYSIS
D. Clémençon, J-N. Chotard, R. Janot
Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides (LRCS), UMR 7314 CNRS,
Université de Picardie Jules Verne, 33 rue st Leu, 80039 Amiens
Abstract: A composite material is first produced by nucleating Ni@Pt core@shell nanoparticles within a mesoporous
carbon matrix, this material being then impregnated with Mg(BH4)2 by liquid method. The final material shows a very
interesting behavior with a much decreased activation energy of hydrogen desorption. We observe a single step
decomposition beginning below 300°C. The resulting MgB 2 particles being nano-sized due to the nano-confinement, we
will also discuss about the effects of this nano-confinement and catalyst on the rehydrogenation process. We will go further
using homemade carbons providing high surface areas and high porous volumes in order to improve even more theseeffects.
behavior, namely hydrogen desorption attemperatures and much easier rehydrogenation.

Introduction
Hydrogen storage stays a major problem for the use ofhydrogen as an energetic vector. Many compounds are
known to store hydrogen but, their capacities are limited to
few wt.%. Here we are interested in complex hydrides withhigh mass capacity. Particularly, Mg(BH4)2 and its
polymorphs are good candidates with a high capacity of
14.8 wt.% and promising thermodynamics (40 kJ/mol-1 H2).
Nevertheless, the high decomposition temperature andthe slow desorption kinetic limit drastically its use. In
addition, the pressure-temperature conditions for therehydrogenation process are usually very harsh.
Mg(BH4)2 l MgB2 + 4 H2 (14,8 wt.%)

Discussion
This study is motivated by solving these severe issues
using methods, which have already made their proofs forothers complex hydrides: firstly, adding nanosizedcatalysts and second the nano-confinement into
mesoporous carbons. A core-shell Ni@Pt can notably be
used as the catalyst for his adaptability. Its surface energy
can be modulated by two parameters: the Ni/Pt ratio andthe heat treatment used, allowing obtaining different
surface compositions. We will show that by nucleating ourcatalyst inside a mesoporous carbon and then adding
Mg(BH4)2, we obtain a material exhibiting interesting

Clémençon
Damienlower

Results
Our carbon-supported Ni@Pt catalysts show interesting
behaviors with a single step decomposition which begins
below 300 °C and an activation energy as low as 44
kJ/mol-1 H2. The decomposition pathway leading to theformation of nanosized MgB2 particles will be presented aswell as the rehydrogenation mechanism.

References[1] Olena Zavorotynska, Abdelouahab El-Kharbachi, Stefano
Deledda, Bjørn C. Hauback, Recent progress in magnesiumborohydride Mg(BH4)2: Fundamentals and applications forenergy storage. International journal of hydrogen energy, 2016,vol. 41, no 32, p. 14387-14403.
[2] Michiel J. van Setten, Gilles A. Wijs., Maximilian Fichtner,
et al. A density functional study of α-Mg(BH4)2. Chemistry ofMaterials, 2008, vol. 20, no 15, p. 4952-4956.
[3] Maximilian Fichtner, Zhirong Zhao-Karger, Jianjiang Hu,
Arne Roth, Peter Weidler, The kinetic properties of Mg(BH4)2
infiltrated in activated carbon. Nanotechnology, 2009, vol. 20,
no 20, p. 204029.
[4] Yigang Yan, Yuen S. Au, Daniel Rentsch, Arndt Remhof,
Petra E. de Jongh, Andreas Züttel, Reversible hydrogen storagein Mg(BH4)2/carbon nanocomposites. Journal of Materials
Chemistry A, 2013, vol. 1, no 37, p. 11177-11183.

2016-2019 PhD : Laboratory of Reactivity and Chemistry of Solids (LRCS)
University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
2015
Internship Institute for chemical research
6 months, Kyoto university, Japan
2014-2015 M.Sc 2 in Chemistry: Material Science exploiting large scale facilities
University of Montpellier II Science and Technology France
2013-2014 M.Sc 1 in Chemistry: Materials for energy & sustainable development
University of Montpellier II Science and Technology,France
2012-2013 B.Sc in Chemistry: Chemistry and Processes Applied to Nuclear Fuel Cycle
University Institute of Technology of Montpellier, France
2010-2012 HND in Chemistry
University Institute of Technology of Montpellier, France

Corresponding author: Clémençon Damien, damien.clemencon@u-picardie.fr

36

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF THE ACTIVATION ENERGY OF THE
CO2 HYDROGENATION REACTION OVER FE, CO, NI AND CU
Robin Mutschler1, Emanuele Moioli1, Andreas Züttel1*
1

EPFL Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy, Sion, Valais, Switzerland;

Abstract: Fe, Co, Ni and Cu are the main non-noble industrially relevant catalysts in the CO2 and CO gas phasehydrogenation reaction towards hydrocarbons and alcohols. Normally supported on metal oxides, the catalysts are herestudied in their pristine form to determine their activity in the CO2 hydrogenation reaction. Furthermore, the activationenergy, an intrinsic parameter of the catalytic system, is determined which allows the kinetic modelling of the reaction.

The catalytic activity of pristine Fe, Co, Ni
and CukJ/mol on Co, 73.9 kJ/mol on Ni and 73.0 kJ/mol on
Ru/Al2O3.

Energy storage from renewable energy in the form ofchemical bonds in hydrocarbons offers the possibility tostore energy in a stable gravimetrically- and for C5+hydrocarbons -in a volumetrically dense way in ambientconditions. Hydrocarbons can be synthesized from CO2
and H2. To investigate on the fundamental reaction
behaviour of the industrially most relevant catalysts for thisreaction, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu, were investigated towards
their activity in the CO2 hydrogenation reaction in theirpristine form. The Ru/Al2O3 catalyst is used as reference.
As it can be seen in Figure 1, the catalysts show asignificant difference in their activity with Co being themost active catalyst among the pure metals. Cu does notshow any activity in the reaction. Furthermore, C2+hydrocarbons are only formed on Co in small quantities.

Determination of the activation energy
The kinetically limited temperature range has to be
identified to determine the activation energy of thereaction, This temperature range is often only tens ofdegrees wide and therefore traditional gas analysis
methods such as gas Chromatography are limited in theirapplication since they have a slow gas sampling rate.
Therefore, a quantitative gas analysis method by meansof mass spectrometry was developed, allowing a rapid gas
sampling and therefore an accurate determination of the
kinetically limited temperature range. On the base of theseresults, the activation energies of the CO2 hydrogenation
reaction were determined to be 49.7 kJ/mol on Fe, 76.8

Figure 1: The comparison of the activity of the catalysts in
the CO2 hydrogenation reaction.

Reaction modelling
Based on the experimentally determined kinetic reaction
parameters, the CO2 hydrogenation reaction is modelledover the entire temperature range, allowing a fulldescription of the process. This model opens the way tothe optimization of the methanation reactor in terms ofcatalyst properties and physical parameters.

B.Sc. in Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 2012
Internship at the AXPO trading AG, Dietikon, 2013/2014
M.Sc. in Mechanical and Process Engineering with Prof. Norris, ETH Zurich, 2015
Master thesis on the synthesis and characterization of a Magnesium Nanocrystal / SWCNT composite
material with rapid absorption and desorption kinetics at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Internship at The Advisory House, Zurich, 2015
Robin Mutschler

Ph.D. candidate at ETH Lausanne, since 2015
Ph.D. thesis in the field of catalysis with a special focus on understanding the fundamentals of theCO2 hydrogenation reaction in the gas phase and methods to increase the yield of C2+ hydrocarbons.

Corresponding author: Prof. Andreas Züttel, Andreas.Zuettel@epfl.ch, +41’216’958’210

37

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ADVANCES IN GAS CONDENSATION SYNTHESIS:NANOPARTICLES FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE

Mg-BASED

Marco Calizzi
Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy (LMER) - Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC) - Basic
Science Faculty (SB) - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais / Wallis, Rue de l'Industrie 17, 1951
Sion, Switzerland
Nanoparticles (NPs) synthesised via condensation from the gas phase, will be presented together with the advances
achieved with this technique, first of all the development of a controlled reactive atmosphere and in situ capabilities. With
the set-up developed, it is possible to synthesise NPs of a variety of compounds and morphologies. Mg-based NPs arestudied for their interest in hydrogen storage applications. Firstly, the problem of severe crystal growth in metallic Mg
NPs will be addressed. Then, the excellent hydrogen sorption kinetic properties of MgH2-TiH2 nanocomposites will beshown, with fast hydrogen absorptions and desorptions observed at low temperatures (<373 K).

Gas condensation of NPs
Inert Gas Condensation is an old technique, dated backin the 1930s, that initially could prepare only metallic
NPs. The advances achieved with this technique, first of
all the development of a controlled reactive atmosphereof oxygen or hydrogen and in situ treatments, arepresented. With the set-up developed, it is possible tosynthesise NPs of a variety of compounds: alloys, oxides,
hydrides, and also complex morphologies like
nanocomposites and core-shell structures. The samples
produced can be nanoparticulate films, nanopowders or
nanopellets. The NPs can be then annealed in vacuum orin a reactive atmosphere. Mg-based NPs are studied fortheir interest in hydrogen storage applications.

Mg and Mg/MgO NPs
Severe crystal growth in metallic Mg NPs is observed
and the dynamics of the self-assembly process is
explained. To avoid this phenomenon, Mg/MgO
core/shell NPs are synthesised and this is proved to be a
way to stabilise small size (in the 20-30nm range) NPs.

Mg-Ti NPs

temperatures as low as 343 K. Slight to nothermodynamics changes compared to the bulk Mg-H
system are retrieved over a wide, low temperature range.

References
1.

2.

3.

4.

Addition of Ti is known to improve the hydrogen storage
properties of Mg. Mg-Ti NPs, in the form of air-stablepelletsornanopowders,
aresynthesisedviacondensation from inert or hydrogen rich atmosphere.
The resulting MgH2-TiH2 nanocomposites show excellent
hydrogen sorption kinetic properties with fast hydrogen
absorptions as well as desorptions observed at

F. Venturi, M. Calizzi, S. Bals, T. Perkisas and
L. Pasquini, “Self-assembly of gas-phase
synthesized magnesium nanoparticles on room
temperature substrates”, Material Research
Express 2 (2015) 015007
M. Calizzi, F. Venturi, M. Ponthieu, F. Cuevas,
V. Morandi, T. Perkisas, S. Bals and L.
Pasquini, “Gas-phase synthesis of Mg–Tinanoparticles for solid-state hydrogen storage”,
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 18 (2016)
141-148
A. Molinari, F. D'Amico, M. Calizzi, Y. Zheng, C.
Boelsma, L. Mooij, Y. Lei, H. Hahn, B. Dam and
L. Pasquini, “Interface and strain effects on the
H-sorption thermodynamics of size-selected Mg
nanodots”, International Journal of Hydrogen
Energy 41 (2016) 9841-9851
N. Patelli, M. Calizzi, A. Migliori, V. Morandi and
L. Pasquini, “Hydrogen Desorption Below 150°C in MgH2−TiH2 Composite Nanoparticles:
Equilibrium and Kinetic Properties”, The Journalof Physical Chemistry C 121 (2017) 1116611177

Born in October 1989 in Bologna. 2013 – Master degree in Physics at University of Bologna, Italy,
thesis “The nanostructured Mg-Ti system for solid state hydrogen storage”, supervisor Prof. Luca
Pasquini in collaboration with ICMPE-CNRS in Paris, France with Dr. F. Cuevas. 2017 – PhD in
Physics at University of Bologna, Italy, with thesis “Advances in nanoparticle condensation from thegas phase: Mg-based and TiO2-based materials for energy applications”, supervisor Prof. Luca
Pasquini. Since July 2017 – Post-doc in Prof. Andreas Züttel’s Laboratory of Materials for
Renewable Energy (LMER), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais / Wallis,
Sion, Switzerland, working on spectroscopy
Marco Calizzi
Corresponding author: Marco Calizzi, marco.calizzi@epfl.ch, +41 21 695 8213.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018CALCULATIONS OF ELECTROCHEMICAL REDUCTION OF CO2 TO
FORM HYDROCARBONS AND ALCOHOLS
J. Hussain, E. Skúlason and H. Jónsson
Science Institute and Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Iceland, VR-III, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland
Abstract: Calculations based on rate theory and density functional theory are used to establish the mechanism ofelectrochemical reduction of CO2 to methane and various other products. Excellent agreement with measurements is
obtained and the calculated results are used to establish criteria that can be used to identify improved catalysts for thisimportant reaction.
CO2 can be reduced electrochemically to form valuable
chemicals such as hydrocarbons and alcohols using
copper electrodes, while other metal electrodes tested so
far mainly form CO or formate, or only the side product,
H2. Accurate modelling of electrochemical reaction rates
including the complex environment of an electrical double
layer in the presence of an applied electrical potential ischallenging. Results of calculations using a combinationof density functional and rate theory will be presented
and compared with available experimental data on theformation of the various products on several metalelectrodes and over a range in applied electricalpotential. Calculations of the current density for CO2
electroreduction and hydrogen gas formation have been
carried out for the close packed surfaces of Cu, Pt, Au,
Ag, Ni, Rh, Ir and Fe using DFT and rate theory
calculations of a realistic model of the electrochemicalinterface. The formation mechanism of various products,
including methane, ethylene, methanol, ethanol, and CO
in CO2 electroreduction on Cu(111) has been
established. The agreement between calculations andmeasurements is good, demonstrating the applicability ofthe theoretical methodology. The results explain why
copper electrodes give a significant yield of hydrocarbons
and alcohols, and why methane, ethylene and ethanol
are formed in electroreduction rather than methanol
which is the main product when H2 gas reacts with CO2.
The results illustrate how important it is to evaluate theactivation energy as a function of applied potential inorder to identify the correct reaction mechanism. The
insight obtained from these calculations is used todevelop a two parameter descriptor, the differential
adsorption energy of H-adatoms at on-top sites and the
CO adsorption energy. From this descriptor, it is possible
to make a preliminary prediction whether theelectroreduction product will be hydrocarbons/alcohols,−
H2, CO or HCOO , thereby helping to identify new andimproved catalysts for CO2 electroreduction.

Fig. 1: Calculated free energy and activation energy inCO2 electroreduction at a Cu(111) electrode. Lower
green curve: The optimal mechanism for methane
formation when a potential of -0.9 V is applied and water
is present. The numbers give the activation energy in eV.
Upper green curve: Neither applied potential nor water
present. The inset graph shows a comparison of thecalculated and experimentally measured current density
at two applied potentials for the five main products,
normalized to the current density for methane formation..
Bottom: Optimal mechanism for electrochemical methane
formation.

References[1] J. Hussain, E. Skúlason and H. Jónsson, Procedia
Comp. Sci. 51, 1865 (2015).
[2] J. Hussain, H. Jónsson and E. Skúlason, Faraday
Discuss. 195, 619 (2016); ACS Catalysis (in press).

B.S. in Chemistry, University of Iceland, 1980.
Ph.D., University of California San Diego, 1985.
Post-doc, Stanford University, 1986-1988.
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, 1988-2005.
Professor, University of Iceland, 2000-.
Corresponding author: Hannes Jónsson, hj@hi.is, +354 8923560.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ROLE OF THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF HYDROGEN AND CO2 FOR
SUCCESSFUL CO2 REDUCTION TO HYDROCARBONSMariana Spodaryk, Andreas Züttel
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Valais/Wallis, 1951 Sion, Switzerland
The simultaneous electrochemical reduction of CO2 and H2 allows the direct production of hydrocarbons, which have thesame energy density as fossil fuels, from electricity. The key factor in determining the product distribution inelectrochemical CO2 reduction (ECO2R) is the cathode material. Copper is a unique electrode among all investigatedmetals on which hydrocarbons can be obtained [1]. At the same time hydrides of metals and alloys [2] have ability toadsorb CO2 and may be good catalysts for the reaction as well as a source of atomic reactive hydrogen at the surface.
Our study is focused in direct ECO2R on new catalytic Cu-containing surfaces, such as nanorods and intermetallic alloys.
In this work we compare the ECO2R process on Cu foil,
as a well-known catalyst for CO2 reduction tohydrocarbos, Cu-containing nanorods which include
2CO3 group, as a catalyst which provides a lot of active
cites for CO2 adsorption and LaNi4Cu alloy (obtained byarc-melting under Ar atmosphere) as a material which
additionally supplies to the surface an atomic hydrogen.
The ECO2R was carried out in the standard threeelectrode electrochemical cell (CE – Au plate, RE –Cu foil

Ag/AgCl in 3M KCl) using saturated with carbon dioxide
0.1M KHCO3 electrolyte (Carl Roth, 99.9%; pH = 6.656.8) with continuous CO2 bubbling (25 ml/min) trough it
and stirred by a magnetic stirrer [3]. The reaction typically
was carried out for 10-12 hours at a constant potentials in
the range of from -0.8 V to -1.1 V vs. RHE with thespecial focus to the reduction process at -0.982V, atwhich the highest Faradaic efficiencies for C2H4 werereported [1].

Cu-containing nanorods

Cu-containing Metal hydride

Fig.1.Schematic representation of catalyst surface during and after ECO2R.
At the Cu foil mostly CO and H2 are produced, theamount of C2H4 and C2H6 is rather low (FE <10%); Cu
surface changes to CuO (dark) upon the reaction (fig. 1).
The reduction process on Cu-containing nanorods at thesame current densities as Cu foil resulted in increased
Faradaic efficiency for C2 products for an order ofmagnitude; the surface of catalyst reduced to Cu2O+Cu(brown). The surface of LaNi4Cu alloy during ECO2R was
evolving mostly hydrogen. Moreover, since the pressure
plateau of this alloy is above 1 bar [4] the hydrogenationof the alloy itself is accompanied by H2 evolution, whichblocks the CO2 molecules access to the catalyst surface.
In conclusion, the amount of H2 at the catalyst surface
has to be much less than the CO2 in order to obtain high
Faradaic efficiency of C2 products instead of CO and H2,
ideally some CO2 has to be included in the catalyst itself.

References[1] Y. Hori, Electrochemical CO2 reduction on metalelectrodes, Mod. Aspects of Electrochem. Springer, New
York, 2008, 42, ch. 3, 89–189.
[2] S. Kato, A. Züttel et al., The Origin of the Catalytic
Activity of a Metal Hydride in CO2 Reduction. Angew.
Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 6028–6032.
[3] M.Spodaryk, K.Zhao, A. Züttel et al. Malachite
nanorods – A new catalyst for electrochemical reductionof CO2 to C2 hydrocarbons. Submitted to Chem.Comm.
[4] M.Spodaryk, A. Züttel. Hydrogen storage andelectrochemical properties of LaNi5-xCux hydride-forming
alloys. Submitted to Journal of alloys and compounds.

Short CV of Mariana SpodarykthBorn 17 of October 1988 in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2011 Master Degree in Technical Electrochemistry in Kyiv National University of Technology and
Design, Ukraine
2011 - 14 PhD student, Ukraine National Academy of Science in Kyiv, Ukraine2013 - 14 Guest Scientist at EMPA Materials Science & Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
June 2015 PhD degree in Physical Chemistry, Ukraine National Academy of Science, Ukraine
October 2015 - Present Post Doc Researcher at EPFL, Valais SB ISIC - LMER in Sion, Switzerland
Mariana Spodaryk
Corresponding author: Mariana Spodaryk, email: mariana.spodaryk@epfl.ch, Tel. +41 21 69 58213.

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Copper/indium interface for superior performance in CO2 electroreduction to CO
Wen LUO,a* Wei XIE,b Robin MUTSCHLER,a Emad OVEISI,c Gian Luca DE GREGORIO,a Raffaella
Buonsanti,a Andreas ZUTTELa,d*a. Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Valais/Wallis, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerlandb. INAMORI Frontier Research Center, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishiku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
c. Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy (CIME), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),
Lausanne, Switzerlandd. Empa Materials Science & Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
ABSTRACT. Electrochemical reduction of CO2 through renewable energy is a promising strategy to mitigate the CO2
emissions and to produce valuable chemicals. However, the lack of a highly selective, highly durable and non-preciousmetal catalysts impedes the applications this reaction. In this work, copper nanowires supported indium catalysts areproposed as advanced electrocatalysts for the aqueous electroreduction of CO2. The catalysts are synthesized by anovel developed method, which combines In

3+deposition on Cu(OH)2 nanowires, mild oxidation and in situ

electroreduction procedures. With a thin layer of metallic In deposited on the surface of Cu nanowires, the catalyst
exhibits a CO Faradaic efficiency of ~93% at -0.6 to -0.8 V vs. RHE; additionally, an unprecedented stability of 60 hours
is achieved. The characterization results combined with density functional theory calculations revealed that the interfaceof the two metals plays an essential role on the superior performance, which decreases the free energy barrier for theformation of the key reaction intermediate, COOH*. In addition, the formation of H* for competitive hydrogen evolution
reaction is unfavored at Cu-In interface, thus limiting the H2 production. This study provides a new perspective on therational design of high performance bimetallic catalysts for CO2 electroreduction by creating the metal-metal interface
structure.

Wen LUO received the B.Sc. and the M.Sc. degree from Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, in2009 and 2012, respectively. Then he joined Dr. Spiros ZAFEIRATOS’ group as a Ph.D. candidate
and received his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
France, in 2016. He is currently a postdoc in Prof. Andreas ZUTTEL’s group in EFPL Valais. Topics
of current interest include, carbon dioxide reduction, catalytic mechanism investigation with surface
techniques, and graphene based materials for catalysts.

Wen LUO
Corresponding author: Wen LUO, wen.luo@epfl.ch41

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

ELEMENT-SPECIFIC CHANNELS IN PHOTOEXCITATION OF VANADIUMDOPED TITANIA NANOPARTICLES
Giacomo Rossi,1 Marco Calizzi,1,* Lucia Amidani,2 Andrea Migliori,3 Stefano Caramori,4 Alessandra
Molinari,4 Daniele Catone,5 Patrick O‘Keeffee,5 Federico Boscherini,1 and Luca Pasquini1
1

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
ESRF – The European Synchrotron, Grenoble, France
3
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Microelettronica e i Microsistemi, Bologna, Italy
4 Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
5 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Rome, Italy* Present address: Laboratory of Materials for Renewable Energy, ISIC SB EPFL, Sion, Switzerland
2

Abstract: In this work, we employ high-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy and ultrafast optical transientabsorption spectroscopy to investigate photoinduced charge transfer processes in V-doped TiO2 nanoparticles. We
prove that sub-band-gap light absorption (532 nm) is predominantly due to excitation of electrons from V ions to defective
and long-lived Ti sites. This dopant-induced photoexcitation channel makes it possible the photocatalytic reduction of 4nitrobenzaldheyde under visible light, which does not occur in pure TiO2. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential of a
new experimental approach for operando investigation of photoelectrochemical materials.

Introduction
Generation of electrons and holes by light absorption insemiconductor nanostructures plays a crucial role inphotoelectrochemistry and photocatalysis. Photoexcitedcharges on a nanoparticle’s surface promote various
redox reactions, with applications such as hydrogenproduction from water, environmental cleaning, dyesensitized solar cells and others. It is known that theincorporation of dopants can improve visible lightharvesting and energy conversion efficiency in wide band
gap semiconductors such as titania (TiO2) that absorb
only a small fraction of the solar spectrum. However, an
atomistic view of the dynamics of the photoexcitedcharge carriers is generally difficult to achieve. In thiswork, we propose a novel experimental approach that
exploits the elemental sensitivity of x-ray absorption
spectroscopy to track the path of charge carriers in TiO2
nanoparticles (NPs) doped with vanadium (V).

Methods
V-doped NPs were prepared by gas-phase condensation
followed by calcination in air [1]. The femtosecond
dynamics of photogenerated electrons and holes werestudied by ultrafast transient optical absorption
spectroscopy. X-ray absorption spectra in the near edge
region (XANES) of the Ti and V K-edges were measured
at the ID26 high-flux beamline of the ESRF. The
difference between XANES spectra recorded with andwithout illumination by a 532 nm laser highlights element-

specific charge transfers [2]. Finally, the photocatalytic
activity under visible light was investigated by following
with a spectrophotometer the reduction of 4nitrobenzaldheyde into 4-amminobenzaldeide as afunction of the irradiation time in a solution containing the
V-TiO2 NPs.

Results
By combining the results of the different techniques weprovide original evidence that visible-light photoexcitationof V-TiO2 NPs induces a transfer of electrons from intragap occupied states localized on V dopants tounoccupied states localized on defective Ti cations. In
these Ti-related traps, the electrons display a remarkably
long lifetime, which makes the photocatalytic reduction of
4-nitrobenzaldheyde under visible light possible. Such a
reduction does not take place using TiO2 NPs without Vdoping. This works opens the way to the elementsensitive investigation of photoinduced charge transfersthat involve either host/dopant atoms in single-phasematerials or different phases in nanocomposites.

References[1] G. Rossi, M. Calizzi, V. Di Cintio, S. Magkos, L.
Amidani, L. Pasquini, F. Boscherini, J. Phys. Chem. C
120, 7457-7466 (2016)[2] G. Rossi, M. Calizzi, L. Amidani, A. Migliori, F.
Boscherini, L. Pasquini, Phys. Rev. B 96, 045303(2017)

Born 16/05/1970. 1994: Master Degree in Physics, University of Bologna, summa cum laude. 1999:
Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics, University of Bologna. 1999: Research fellow at Institut fürTheoretische und Angewandte Physik, Universität Stuttgart. 2001: Visiting scientist at the European
Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble. 2002-2007: Post-Doctoral fellow at the Department of
Physics, University of Bologna. 2008-: Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor at the
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna.
Luca Pasquini
Corresponding author: Luca Pasquini, e-mail: luca.pasquini@unibo.it, Phone: +39 051 2095149

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

DEHYDROGENATION OF LEWIS BASE ADDUCTS OF MAGNESIUM
BOROHYDRIDE:REMARKABLEKINETICSANDPRODUCT
SELECTIVITY
Craig M. Jensen1*, Marina Chong2, Phuong Nguyen1, Tom Autrey2 and Sunil Shrestha1
1. Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland, WA, 99352 USA

Only a few of the hundreds of materials that have been publicized as potential onboard hydrogen carriers
have garnered as much interest as Mg(BH4)2. The 11.2 wt% (of the theoretical 14.7 wt%) H2. that can becycled through the reversible dehydrogenation of Mg(BH4)2 to MgB2 (equation 1) stands as the highest
reversible
3 Mg(BH4)2 ➝ Mg(B3H8)2 + 2MgH2 + 2H2 (1)storage capacity that has been demonstrated for any material that can be directly hydrogenated.
Additionally, dehydrogenation of the borohydride to MgB2 has a calculated ΔHo of 38.6 kJ/(mol H2) and ΔS of
111.5 J/(K mol H2), thus the thermodynamics for H2 release lie in the narrow window required for reversibility
under moderate conditions, suggesting its application as a reversible hydrogen carrier for PEM fuel cellapplications. However, two critical challenges remain: (i) enhancement of the kinetics of hydrogen release;and (ii) circumventing the formation of Mg(B12H12), which has been referred to as the dead-end forreversibility. Cycling to MgB2 requires extreme reaction conditions (i.e, dehydrogenation >400 ˚C and rehydrogenation at 400 ˚C and 900 atm H2). The high requisite temperature and pressure led us to explore
reversible dehydrogenation of Mg(BH4)2 at lower temperatures. We found that the dehydrogenation ofMg(BH4)2 at 200 °C yields Mg(B3H8)2 as the major product but requires over 5 weeks. Also the complete
conversion of Mg(B3H8)2 back to Mg(BH4)2 can be accomplish at 250 °C but requires 48 hours under 120 barof hydrogen. However, our studies hydrogenation Mg(B3H8)2•THF found that quantitative formation ofMg(BH4)2•THF occurs under only 50 bar H2 within 5 hours at 200 °C. Thus while previous studies ofborohydrides and boranes in the context of hydrogen storage, have typically focused on complete solvent
removal, our findings point to solvent coordination as a means of enhancing dehydrogenation kinetics. MAS
and solution phase 11B NMR studies have revealed that not only does the dehydrogenation ofMg(BH4)2•THF occur rapidly at 200 ˚C but also it is surprising high selectivity for the formation MgB10H10 overMg(B3H8)2 and/or MgB12H12. This change in selectivity represents an increase of the maximum theoretical H2release from 2.5 to 8.1 wt% and circumvents the formation of highly stable B12H122-. Additionally, in situ VT
MAS 11B NMR studies of the Mg(BH4)2·THF complex are consistent with the visual observation of themelting of the THF adduct between 80-100 ˚C. It is likely that melting of the adduct is a contributes to theenhanced dehydrogenation kinetics. The dehydrogenation of Mg(BH4)2 at temperatures below 200 °C andpotential for cycling between Mg(BH4)2 and MgB10H10 point towards practical hydrogen storage applications.
The details of these studies and their mechanistic implications as well as the results of our investigations of
the dehydrogenation an assortment of other Lewis base Mg(BH4)2 adducts including dimethyl sulfide, diethyl
ether, triethylamine, diglyme, and dimethoxy ethane will be discussed.

Craig JENSEN

Dr. Craig Jensen is a full professor in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Hawaii. He
has authored or co-authored 146 peer-reviewed publications and 10 U.S. patents. Prof. Jensen wasnamed the U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen program’s “1999 Research Success Story” andpresented with their “R&D” award in 2004. Since 1997, he has been a member of the expert groupsof the International Energy Association’s tasks aimed at the development of improved hydrogenstorage materials. He was a co-chairman of the 2006 International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen
Systems and the 2007 Hydrogen-Metal Systems Gordon Research Conference. In 2003, Dr. Jensen
founded Hawaii Hydrogen Carriers, LLC and has since served as the company president.

Corresponding author: Craig Jensen, jensen@hawaii.edu 1-808-4457248.

4312th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

HETEROVALENT ANION MIXING IN SODIUM CLOSO-BORANE, A WAY TO
STABILIZE SUPERIONIC PHASE CLOSE TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
Matteo Brighi [1], Fabrizio Murgia [1], Zbigniew Łodziana [2] and Radovan Černý [1][1] Laboratory of Crystallography, Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet
24, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland[2] Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Nuclear Physics, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland
Abstract: A novel complex hydride is presented as potential Na-based solid electrolyte. The Na2B12H12 closo-borane and
NaCB11H12 carbacloso-borane are mixed together to form a new, single phase, solid electrolyte with high Na-mobility andlow activation energy. Its electrochemical characterization shows a stability window of 4 V against Na +/Na. The long cyclelife in an all-solid cell was proven with Na-Sn alloy electrodes.

Introduction
Electrochemical cells are a promising way to achieve agreen, zero emission energy storage systems to gatherintermittent energy produced by renewable sources as
solar and wind. Secondary battery’s development
dramatically evolved in the last 30 years, finding
application on mobile phone and laptop market in the early’90 until their implementation nowadays on vehicles andstationary energy storage systems coupled withrenewable sources.
However a further performance enhancement is required:higher energy density, robustness, major temperature andelectrochemical stability related to higher safety are
milestones to achieve for the next generation secondary
battery. [1]All solid ion-batteries were presented as potential solution
to some of the points mentioned above and in the family ofsolid ion conductors, complex hydrides were investigatedbecause of their exceptionally high ionic conductivity
under specific conditions.[2,3]

dynamical disorder for which, an order disorder transition
appears for composition x = 1/3.
Ionic conductivity was measured by means of ImpedanceSpectroscopy in the frequency range 5 Hz – 2 MHz, Na+mobility approaches the superionic regime (2 mS/cm)
already at room temperature with an activation energy of
only 136 meV.
An excellent electrochemical stability window of 0 - 4 V vs
Na+/Na was measured at 60 °C by cyclic voltammetry. On
the other hand an instable interface against Na has been
observed limiting a long term cycling, during galvanostatic
tests, in agreements with recent reports.[4]To overcome this aspect a Na-Sn alloy was selected aselectrode in a symmetric configuration resulting in stableinterfaces allowing a steady Na+ flow for over one month.

References[1]

J. Janek, W. G. Zeier, Nat. Energy 2016, 1, 1.

[2]

M. Matsuo, Y. Nakamori, S. I. Orimo, H. Maekawa,
H. Takamura, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007, 91, 42.

[3]

W. S. Tang, M. Matsuo, H. Wu, V. Stavila, W.
Zhou, A. A. Talin, A. V Soloninin, R. V Skoryunov,
O. A. Babanova, A. V Skripov, 2016, 1.

[4]

D. S. Tchitchekova, D. Monti, P. Johansson, F.
Bardé, A. Randon-Vitanova, M. R. Palacín, A.
Ponrouch, J. Electrochem. Soc. 2017, 164,
A1384.

Solid Electrolyte
We present Na2-x(CB11H12)x(B12H12)1-x as novel ionic
conductor suitable as solid electrolyte for all solid Na-ion
batteries. The compound is mechanochemicallysynthesized and the phase forms in the composition range
1/3 < x < 2/3.
Thermal stability and absences of phase transitions is
confirmed by in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction up to 300°C. Small variation in the composition drives however a

Matteo Brighi was born in Cesena (Italy) in 1986.
He got a Master degree in Physics in 2011 at the university of Bologna (Italy) with the thesis “Hydrogenon Magnesium Nano-Crystals with Elastic Constraints”
From 2014 is PhD at the University of Geneva, at the laboratory of Crystallography of the Quantum
Matter Physics department. He currently works on complex hydrides for solid state secondary ionbattery application.
Corresponding author: Matteo Brighi, matteo.brighi@unige.ch, +41 22 37 962 49.

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

DIFFUSION PROCESSES IN MG AND TI THIN FILMS FOR HYDROGEN
STORAGEEfi Hadjixenophontos, Lukas Michalek, Andreas Weigel, Guido Schmitz
Department of materials physics, Institute of Materials Science (IMW), University of Stuttgart, Germany
Abstract Among the metal hydride materials, magnesium and its alloys show an excellent performance for hydrogenstorage.Transition metals, e.g. Titanium (Ti), have shown to lower the activation energy and therefore improve the slow
kinetics of hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of Mg. Understanding the reason for the slow kinetics and determining themechanism of hydride formation can help improve the system. Here, we study separately the two systems: Ti-TiH2 andMg-MgH2 (with Pd as catalyst) in thin films of thickness 50-800nm. The nano-scale thin films enable us to monitor thehydride growth and determine the diffusion coefficients. The two metals show a different behaviour of hydrogenation. The
naturally formed oxide passivation layer in the case of Ti has a great impact so that the pressure increase of hydrogen
does not accelerate the kinetics of hydride formation. The interface barrier becomes significantly important and a linear
regime is observed. TEM images support the fast diffusivity of H into Ti known from literature, since TiH2 is first formed at
the back side, closer to the substrate. In the case of Mg, microscopic imaging shows that MgH2 is immediately formed
underneath the surface and a layer-like growth towards the substrate is observed. Surprisingly, a transition between
linear, at 200°C, and parabolic growth regime, at 300°C, is observed. Diffusion coefficients and surface transportcoefficients are determined by combining XRD, SEM-FIB and TEM.
-10

Experimental
Metallic films were deposited by ion beam sputtering
using a DC ion gun (600V/20mA) in a custom made UHVchamber. All layers were deposited under pure Ar, at RT-4
and constant pressure of 2·10 mbar. All samples were
deposited from targets of high purity. After deposition,
samples were hydrogenated in a reactor at differentpressures. Isothermal hydrogenation series were studied
at 200°C and 300°C for the Mg system and at 300°C for
Ti. The hydrogenation state was characterized by ex-situ
XRD. Characteristic samples were prepared for crosssectional imaging by a FIB. A TEM was used at 200kV
for imaging and for selected area electron diffraction.

-16

κ=10 cm⁄s and a diffusion limit of H in TiO2 of D ≥102cm ⁄s. The hydride nucleates at the interface to thesubstrate and grows towards the surface. Hydrogenation
reaches a constant plateau rate at about 1 bar, whichmight be understood by full coverage of the TiO2 surface
by H atoms that is obtained at that pressure.

Conclusion
Hydrogenation of Pd/Mg and TiO2/Ti thin films were
measured as a function of layer thickness and pressure.
At 200°C transport an interface is the limiting factor
Pd/Mg or MgH2/Mg. The hydride is nucleated at thePd/Mg interface and grows from the surface towards the-12
substrate. The growth constant is κ =10 cm⁄s and the-162
diffusion coefficient of H in MgH2 is ≥ 7.13 10 cm ⁄s. At
300°C, a parabolic regime is observed and the diffusion-13
2
coefficient amounts to 6.18 10 cm ⁄s.
In Ti the natural 10nm-TiO2 on top of Ti, controls thehydrogenation. Consequently, a linear kinetic regime isobserved with a growth constant, at 300°C/20bar, ofReferences
1. J.-C. Crivello, R.V. Denys, M. Dornheim, Appl. Phys. A
122, 122 (2016)
2. M. Daryani, A. Simchi, Intern. Journal of Hydrogen
Energy 39, 21007 (2014)
3. E. Hadjixenophontos, M. Roussel, T. Sato, Intern.
Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2017)

Efi Hadjixenophontos is at the end of her doctoral studies (Marie Curie ITN) working in the field ofmetal hydrides for renewable energies, at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Her research isprimarily focused on diffusion processes in materials for hydrogen and electrochemical energy
storage. Grown up in Cyprus, she moved to France, after high school, to start her studies in physicalchemistry in Montpellier. She completed an international master’s on materials for energy storage
and conversion (MESC) while working at various European universities.
Efi
Hadjixenophontos

Corresponding author: Efi Hadjixenophontos, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569 Stuttgart Germany, 071168561910

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12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

MODELLING, EXPERIMENTATION AND SCALINGELECTROCHEMICAL FUEL PROCESSING DEVICES

OF

PHOTO-

Sophia HaussenerLaboratory of Renewable Energy Sciecnes and Engineering, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
The functionality of photo-driven electrochemical (PEC) devices relies on complicated and coupled multi-physics
processes, occurring at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Device modelling can actively and efficiently support the
choice of the most promising – in terms of efficiency, cost, robustness, scalability, and practicability – conceptual design
pathways, material choices, and operating approaches. Modeling is usually accompanied by experimentation in order toprovide missing properties, or morphological and performance indicators. Eventually, our research aims at theimplementation and scaling of a practical device.

In this talk, I will first describe modeling efforts used in ourgroup to provide a coupled techno-economic and life cycle
assessment of PEC hydrogen generation [1,2]. I will show
how this approach provides quantitative and holistic
design guidelines for PEC devices and can support
decision-making for the implementation of large-scale,sustainable and competitive solar hydrogen production.
Subsequently, I will discuss the reactor modeling efforts
for one promising PEC route: concentrated PEC. A
detailed multi-physics and multi-scale PEC reactor designmodel will be discussed [3]. It allows for device feasibility
assessment and optimization. I then discuss experimental
demonstration of a concentrated PEC device with highefficiency (17% solar-to-fuel, based on Gibbs energy) andSophiaHaussener

unprecedented power and current density (27 W output
power and 0.88 A/cm2, respectively). Finally, I discuss
ongoing scaling approaches by our lab for the design,
implementation, and testing of these devices, in order tobridge the gap between research and practical application.

References[1] M. Dumortier, S. Tembhurne and S. Haussener,
Energy Environ. Sci., 8:3614–3628, 2015;[2] http://sepcdo.epfl.ch;[3] S. Y. Tembhurne and S. Haussener, Journal of The
Electrochemical Society, 163:H1008-H1018, 2016;

Sophia Haussener is an Assistant Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Scienceand Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is
focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemicalenergy conversion reactors through multi-physics modeling. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD(2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. Between 2011 and 2012, she was a postdoctoral
researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Energy Environmental
Technology Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She has been awarded
the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis(2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), and the Global Change Award (2017), and is a recipient of a Starting
Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014).

Corresponding author: Sophia Haussener, sophia.haussener@epfl.ch.

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The role of electrochemical conversions in large scale synthesis of solar fuels

Hans Geerlings
Shell Global Solutions International B.V.
P.O. Box 38000, 1030 BN Amsterdam
andDelft University of Technology; Department of Chemical Engineering
P.O. Box 5045, 2600 GA Delft
In the coming decades, the share of solar energy in the energy mix will expand substantially in all parts of the world. Thisdevelopment is driven by the spectacular ongoing reductions in costs of solar energy. As a consequence, it is expectedstthat ‘solar electrons’ will become the lowest cost energy source of the 21 century. In this electrified world, molecules still
have a very significant role to play for several applications as molecules offer a high product utility combined with lowest
handling/storage costs. More specifically, molecules offer the highest energy densities when compared to any form ofelectricity storage. With this in mind there is a clear need for the development of cost effective and efficient solar driven
routes to synthesize relevant product molecules from molecules that are widely available in the environment. This implies
synthesis of molecules like hydrogen, methanol or ammonia from water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Carbon dioxide
necessarily will need to be captured from the environment; for instance, from the air.
It is obvious that electrochemical conversions have an important role to play in the production of solar fuels. In my talk, I
will explore some of the boundary conditions set by available process concepts and the external environment.

Hans Geerlings studied experimental physics in Amsterdam, where he received his PhD degree in
1987. In that year, he moved to Shell, where he worked in research on a number of topics including
synthesis gas generation and conversion, hydrogen storage and CO2 capture and sequestration. In
2007, he was appointed as a part-time professor of chemical engineering at the Delft University ofTechnology. His current research interests include fundamental and engineering aspects of solar
fuel synthesis.
Name
Corresponding author: Hans Geerlings, j.j.c.geerlings@tudelft.nl

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Computational and numerical analysis of Pressure – Composition –Temperature relationship of metal hydride systems during hydrogen storage.
Moropeng Mapula Luceya, Kolesnikov Andreib, Lototskky Michael c, Mavhungu
Avhafunanid,
a,b,d Department of Chemical and Metallurgy Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X 680,

Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
c South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville,
7535, South Africa
Abstract: In this study, the solution of the Lacher model describing the relationship between the Pressure –Composition, and Temperature (P-C-T diagrams) of AB5 type of metal-hydrides (LaNi4.91Sn0.15) for hydrogen storage
using C++ software, with the help of a numerical method of nonlinear equation, Newton-Raphson method is presented.
This study focuses on the development of a C++ code to describe the iteration of Newton-Raphson for application in
Hydrogen to Metal-Hydride systems. The logical steps of the procedure for determining the equilibrium pressure of the
M-H was achieved with gradual step wise plateau slopes obtained at pressures ranging between one to 30 bars.

Introduction
The metal–hydrogen system presents many potential
industrial applications. These applications includehydrogen storage, amongst many. The principle ofhydrogen storage in metal hydrides involves atoms ofhydrogen under low pressure bonding chemically to themetal atoms. For this metal - to - hydrogen interaction, it
is necessary to have a thermodynamic model of Pressure–Composition – Temperature which can be observed forreal metal hydride material in the system with hydrogengas [1-3]. The model should analytically represent therelationship between equilibrium hydrogen pressures(Peq), hydrogen concentration / composition in the solid(C), which can be represented as a function of θ, andtemperature (T).

Process Description
Using the Newton-Raphson numerical method, thefunction F (P, T) was written as combinations of otherequations in forming equation below:
lnPeq = T
'S 0 'H 0§ T ·+ 2ln ¨¸ - 8Z C (0.5 - T )R
RTT©1-T ¹values of the filling fraction (θ) corresponding to various
values of Pressure (P) in accordance with the NewtonRaphson numerical method to satisfy the conditions ofequation presented above.

Conclusion
The numerical technique proposed in this study can
predict the characteristics of PCT diagrams when the
hydride is subjected to use at different temperatures witha known sorption model description.

References[1] Lototsky M.V., Yartys V.A., Marinin V.S. , Lototsky
N.M. 2003.”Modelling of phase equilibria in metal–hydrogen systems, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 21(37): 356–357.
[2] Kierstead Henry. A. 1980. “Theory of Multiplateau
Hydrogen Absorption Isotherms”. Journal of theLess-Common Metals, 71: 303 – 309.
[3] Jemni A., Nasrallah S. B. 1995. “Study of TwoDimensional Heat and Mass Transfer during
Absorption in a Metal-Hydrogen Reactor”. ht. J.
Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 20, No. 1: 43-52.

The visual studio is used as a console platform to run the
C++ application in determine the Pressure-Composition
isotherms of hydrogen to metal-hydrides by calculating
Mapula Lucey Moropeng is a self-driven and a committed individual, born and bred in RSA,
Limpopo province. She is holding a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tshwane
University of Technology, (RSA) where she is appointed as a lecturer, involved in teaching andlearning, and undergraduate and postgraduate research supervision. She is currently registered forher doctoral (DTech) studies in the same study field at Tshwane University of Technology. Her areaof interest included modelling and simulation, nanotechnology, carbon dioxide capture andHydrometallurgy.

Corresponding author: Name: M.L. Moropeng, Email: moropengl@tut.ac.za, Tel.: +27123823516.

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HYDROGEN STORAGE IN HIGH-ENTROPY ALLOYS WITH VARYING
DEGREE OF LOCAL LATTICE STRAIN
Magnus Nygård1., Gustav Ek2., Martin Sahlberg2., Magnus H. Sørby1. & Bjørn C. Hauback1.
1. Physics Department, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, NORWAY
2. Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, SWEDEN
Abstract. We have investigated the structure and hydrogenation properties of a series of Ti, V, Zr, Nb and Ta based
high-entropy alloys (HEA) with varying degree of local lattice strain by means of SR-PXD, TG/DSC and manometricmeasurements in a Sieverts apparatus. The obtained hydrogen-to-metal ratios are close to 2 and increased presence of
Zr stabilizes the hydrides. Moreover, the most Zr-rich systems phase-separate upon hydrogen desorption.

Hydrogen storage in high-entropy alloys
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have recently been given
much scientific attention due to their diverse and often
extraordinary properties [1]. As a materials class, HEAs
typically contain four or more principal elements in nearequimolar amounts that are randomly distributed over a
single crystallographic site. It was recently reported by
Sahlberg et al. that a body-centred cubic (bcc) HEA of
TiVZrNbHf absorbs hydrogen to form a body-centred
tetragonal (!4/!!!) metal hydride with H/M = 2.5 [2].
Such a high H/M-ratio has never been observed in puretransition metal hydrides and would mean that hydrogenis placed in both tetrahedral and about half of theoctahedral sites. It was suggested by Sahlberg et al. that“[…] the built in strain in an HEA could be the driving
force to open up new interstitial sites for hydrogen”. In thepresent work we have therefore aimed to investigate
whether such an effect can be observed in other HEAs
with comparable local lattice strain.

Results
As Ti, V, Nb and Ta are significantly smaller than Zr wechose TiVZr! NbTa!!! with z ∈ {0, 0.15, 0.50, 0.736, 1.0}
and TiVZr!!! Nb with z ∈ {0, 0.20, 0.50, 0.75, 1} as ourmodel systems. The alloys were synthesized by arc
melting while the corresponding hydrides were obtainedusing an in-house built Sieverts apparatus. It wasdetermined through SR-PXD that the alloys are bcc(!"3!) and that they form face-centred cubic metal
hydrides (!"3!) when hydrogenated. Gravimetric andmanometric measurements of the hydrogen content yieldagreeing H/M-ratios close to, but never exceeding, 2.
The desorption-processes were traced by both TG/DSC

and in situ SR-PXD. The stability of the hydrides
increases with the Zr-content. For the lowest Zrcontaining alloys, the single phase bcc is retrieved uponhydrogen desorption (see figure 1). However, when the
Zr-content increase the original bcc phase is split into two
bcc phases that are positioned symmetrically about theoriginal. The relative intensities of these phases changesystematically with the Zr-content leading us to suspectthat one phase is rich in Zr while the other is poor.

Figure 1 (left): In situ SR-PXD measurement (! = 0.2071091 Å) during desorption ofhydrogen from TiVZr!.! NbTa!.! H! alongside corresponding TG/DSC measurement(10 ℃/min) and sequential refinement results. Figure 1 (right): Cu-K! PXD patternsof the as cast alloys (black) and the corresponding desorbed hydrides (coloured).

Acknowledgement
The Functional Hydrides project funded by NordForsk
Nordic Neutron Science Programme is acknowledged.

References[1] YF Ye, Q Wang, J Lu, CT Liu, Y Yang. High-entropy
alloy: challenges and prospects. Mater. Today,
19:349-362, 2016[2] M Sahlberg, D Karlsson, C Zlotea, U Jansson.
Superior hydrogen storage in high-entropy alloys. Sci.
Rep., 6, 36770, 2016.

M. Sc. Environmental physics and renewable energy, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Master’s thesis: The structure and properties of Ti-V based metal hydrides

Magnus MoeNygårdCorresponding author: Magnus Moe Nygård, magnus.moe.nygaard@ife.no, +47 414 26 626

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Adsorption species evolution during CO2 hydrogenation on Ru/Al2O3:
intermediates or byproducts?
Kun Zhao, Andreas Züttel*
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering,École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, 1951 Sion, Switzerland.
Abstract: CO2 hydrogenation on Ru/Al2O3 has been investigated by diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transformation
spectroscopy (DRIFTS). CO2 adsorption on the surface led to the adsorption species majorly in forms of HCO3* at low
temperature. HCO3* partially dissociated to CO3* by assistance of temperature increasing. At temperature higher thanoo
170 C, CO* formed exponentially till saturated at 300 C. CO2 and H2 coadsorption headed to CH4 production aboveo
100 C. HCO3* got stabilized compared to CO2 solely adsorption. More importantly, the coadsorption not only gave birth
to COOH* and HCOO*, but also lower the energy barrier of CO* production dramatically, resulting an exponential growthoobelow 100 C. HCOO* and CO* are produced parallelly to methanation reaction below 150 C, while reduced at higher
temperature. Furthermore, when the reactions take place at constant temperature, the reversed water gas shift (RWGS)
reaction participated ahead of methanation reaction, while all the other carbon adsorption species disappeared when theoconstant temperature of the reaction was higher than 280 C. CO2 converted to carbonates, bicarbonates, and formates
while chemically adsorbed on the powder surfaces.
CO2 hydrogenation on gas/solid interface has been
widely investigated based on supported VIII group metals
1such as Ni, Ru, Rh, et al. As CO leads to multiplehydrocarbon products in FT reaction, it is potentiallybelieved that the CO2 hydrogenation passes by COtransit. Meanwhile, due to the complication of the surface
structure of the catalysts, the adsorbed formate (HCOO )and bicarbonate (HCO3 ) are also considered as the main
2
intermediates . Nevertheless, some investigations on
3
CO2 hydrogenation reported CO could be a bystander .
Therefore, whether CO, HCOO , or HCO3 are theintermediates or byproduct is till elusive.
Here we found CO2 coadsorption with H2 generate
HCO3*, HCOO*, COOH* and CO* species adsorbed on
the surface. However, none of them are key
intermediates of CO2 methanation reaction. Instead, theirproductions are competition reactions of methane
formation.
References
1.
2.
3.

Weatherbee, G. D.; Bartholomew, C. H. J. Catal. 1984, 87,352.
Miao, B.; Ma, K. S. S.; Wang, X.; Su, H. B.; Chan, S. H.
Catal. Sci. Technol. 2016, 6, 4048.
Marwood, M.; Vyve, F. V.; Doepper, R.; Renken, A. Catal.
Today. 1994, 20, 437.

Figure 1 (a) Original infrared absorbance spectra of 200 mbaro
CO2 and 800 mbar H2 at temperature from 20 to 300 C with aoramp of 1 C/min. R = metal, O, H, and OH. (b) CH4, HCO3*,
COOH*, CO*, HCOO*, and surface OH* formation as function ofotime at 200 and 280 C. (c) The proposed scheme of total
reactions.

Kun Zhao. 2012 B.S. in Applied Chemistry, and B.S. in Physics in Central China Normal University,
Wuhan, China. 2015 M.S. in Physical Chemistry in Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
Since February 2016 PhD candidate in the group of Prof. Andreas Züttel, LMER, ISIC, SB, EPFL
Valais/Wallis in Sion, investigating CO2 reduction mechanisms through spectroscopic methods.
Email: kun.zhao@epfl.ch50

12th Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018

BORON-DOPED GRAPHITIC CARBON AND THE ROAD TO BC3 FOR
HYDROGEN STORAGE
Emanuel Billeter1,2, Devin McGlamery1, and Nicholas P. Stadie1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA
2Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland

Substitutional boron-doping can be achieved over a wide range of composition in meta-stable graphitic carbon, BCxʹ, up toa limit corresponding to x = 3. While thin-films of BCx have been reported since the late 1980s, a new route to bulk, freestanding BCx has now been discovered via a single-pot, single-step approach starting from simple, liquid precursors. The
boron content in bulk BCx is tunable up to x = ~3, and the resulting materials exhibit graphitic structure as confirmed by Xray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The nature of the boron chemical environment is revealed by solid-state NMR to
be exclusively substitutional within the graphitic lattice. Theory1,2 predicts that bulk BC3 can reversibly adsorb H2 at room
temperature, but early experiments remain inconclusive; routes to optimize crystallinity and chemical purity are presented.

Direct Synthesis of Bulk BCxʹBoron Chemical Environment

The reaction of BBr3 and benzene within a closed quartz
ampule at 800-1050 °C for 1 h results in the synthesis ofdark metallic flakes of BCxʹ, approximately 3 μm thick.3

Boron inclusion within directly-synthesized BCxʹ is probed
by solid-state 11B NMR spectroscopy, which reveals that amajority of the boron lies in trigonal planar environments
bonded to carbon. A second contribution from B-O
bonding is also observed. The materials presented hereinshow less oxygen contamination than other routes such as
chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and molecular tiling.

Energy Storage in Bulk BCxʹStructure and Composition
The structure of directly-synthesized BCxʹ is revealed to be
exclusively turbostratic, graphitic carbon by X-ray
diffraction (XRD), with an interlayer spacing of ~3.5 Å.
Raman spectroscopy confirms the structure to be that ofdisordered, nanocrystalline graphitic carbon. Composition
is determined by elastic-recoil detection analysis (ERDA)
which shows a maximum boron content of x = 3.2 when
instrumental corrections are considered.

Early results in electrochemical energy storage (as a Liand Na-ion battery electrode) and hydrogen storage indirectly-synthesized BCxʹ are presented and discussed.

References[1] C. Zhang, A. Alavi, J. Chem. Phys. 2007, 127,
214704.
[2] X. Sha, A. C. Cooper, W. H. Bailey III, H. Cheng, J.
Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 3260–3264.
[3] N. P. Stadie, E. Billeter, L. Piveteau, K. V. Kravchyk,
M. Döbeli, M. V. Kovalenko, Chem. Mater. 2017, 29,3211−3218.

Nick was born in 1985 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He received a BS in chemistry from Arizona State
University in 2007. He then received an MS and PhD in materials science at Caltech with Prof. Brent
Fultz and Dr. Channing Ahn, focusing on the synthesis and thermodynamic characterization ofphysisorptive materials for hydrogen storage. He then joined the group of Prof. Andreas Züttel at Empa
as a postdoc (2013-2015), focusing on new techniques for characterizing the decomposition pathwaysof light metal complex hydrides. After a second postdoc in the group of Prof. Maksym Kovalenko at
ETH Zürich (2015-2016) focused on the synthesis of novel carbon-based materials for energy storage,
Nick joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Montana State University in 2017.
Nicholas Stadie
Corresponding author: Nicholas Stadie, nicholas.stadie@montana.edu, +1-406-994-7931

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SOLAR THERMOCHEMICAL SPLITTING OF CO2 AND H2O WITH HIGH
SELECTIVITY, STABILITY, CONVERSION, AND EFFICIENCYPhilipp Furler, Daniel Marxer, Michael Takacs, and Aldo Steinfeld
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract - We report on the experimentally demonstration of the solar-driven thermochemical splitting of CO2 into
separate streams of CO and O2 with 100% selectivity, 83% molar conversion, and 5.25% solar-to-fuel energy efficiency.
This benchmark performance was accomplished using a 4 kW solar reactor featuring a ceria porous structure directly
exposed to 3000x flux irradiation and undergoing redox cycling via temperature/pressure-swing operation. The dualscale interconnected porosity of the reticulated ceria structure provided volumetric radiative absorption and enhanced
heat/mass transport for rapid redox kinetics, while 500 consecutive redox cycles further validated material stability andstructure robustness. This reactor technology has been applied to simultaneously split H2O and CO2 and coproduce
high-quality syngas suitable for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The entire production chain for renewable kerosene obtained
directly from sunlight, H2O, and CO2 has been experimentally demonstrated.

References
Marxer D., Furler P., Scheffe J., Geerlings H., Falter C.,
Batteiger V., Sizmann A., Steinfeld A., “Demonstration of
the entire production chain to renewable kerosene via
solar thermochemical splitting of H2O and CO2”, Energy& Fuels, Vol. 29, pp 3241-3250, 2015.

Marxer D., Furler P., Takacs M., Steinfeld A., “Solar
thermochemical splitting of CO2 into separate streams of
CO and O2 with high selectivity, stability, conversion, andefficiency”, Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 10, pp.
1142-1149, 2017.

Short CV – Philipp Furler received his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in 2014. Currently, he is a Pioneer
Fellow and Research Associate at ETH Zurich. His research is focused on solar chemistry andcovers the fields of reactor engineering and modeling, advanced materials and morphologies forthermochemical H2O and CO2 splitting, and high-temperature energy storage. Philipp serves as theoperating agent – Solar Chemistry Research for the International Energy Agency’s technology
program SolarPACES and is the co-founder and CEO of the ETH spin-off Sunredox.

Philipp Furler
Corresponding authors: Philipp Furler, furlerp@ethz.ch, Tel. +41 44 633 93 78
Aldo Steinfeld, aldo.steinfeld@ethz.ch, Tel. +41 44 632 79 29

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IONIC CONDUCTIVITY IN METAL-CLOSO-BORANES
Zbigniew Łodziana
Department of Structural Research, INP – Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland
Abstract: Theoretical analysis of ion mobility in closo-boranes will be presented. The relation between structure andcomposition and the ion mobility will be shown, explaining better conductivity of sodium than lithium in this class ofcompounds.

Introduction

Results

Solid state compounds with a room temperature ionic
conductivity larger than 1 mS/cm may compete with liquid
electrolytes in rechargeable batteries. Very highconductivity of sodium reported in Na2B12H12 cancompete with the best alumina based solid state
conductors known for this metal. Further developments
reveal borane based Na superionic conductors that are
by orders of magnitude better than any known before. On
the contrary this class of materials exhibit conductivity oflithium that is lower than sodium. We report Density
Functional Theory calculations of ion mobility mechanismthat reveal the differences in mobility of lithium andsodium on their closo-borane salts.

The relation between the superionic conductivity and the
crystal structure and the composition of the anion
sublattice will be presented focusing in the differences ofcation motion in fcc, bcc and hcp anion sublattice [1].
This analysis provides a simple rules for design of stable
and highly conductive boranes based on modification of
2the B12H12 anion. Our analysis explains the differencesin lithium and sodium mobility within closo-anion lattices.
An example of will be shown of the crystal structure
2combined from B12H12 and CB11H12 anions that forms
bcc lattice and exhibit high sodium mobility even at low
temperatures.

MethodThe calculations are performed within density functional
theory (DFT) as implemented in the Vienna ab initio
Simulation package. The ab initio molecular dynamics
method with the time step of 0.6 fs and Nose-Hooverthermostat was applied to follow ionic motion attemperatures up to 900 K.

The difficulties of the theoretical description of thesematerials at high temperatures will be pointed out. The
origin of such difficulties is traced back to the aromatic
nature of closo- anions.

References[1] Y. Sadikin, P. Schouwink, M. Brighi, Z. Łodziana, R.
Černý, Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 5006−5016
Support by National Science Center Project
2015/17/B/ST3/02478 is kindly acknowledged.

Zbigniew Łodziana, PhD in 1997 at University of Science and Technology, Poland. At present
professor at Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.

Name
Corresponding author: Zbigniew Łodziana, Zbigniew.Lodziana@ifj.edu.pl, Tel. +48 12 6628267

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SCIENCE OF
HYDROGEN &ENERGY AWARD
The “Science of Hydrogen & Energy” award is a prize, just similar to the Nobel prize, for an
extraordinary contribution to the sciences of hydrogen. The aim is to award a prize to a distinct
scientist for his scientific work of a life time.

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2007

2008

2009

Prof. Dr. Ronald Griessen

Prof. Dr. Louis Schlapbach

Dr. Gary Sandrock

2009

2010

2010

Prof. Dr. Jens Norskov

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Bormann

Prof. Dr. Ivor Rex Harris

2010

2011

2012

Prof. Dr. Rainer Kirchheim

Prof. Dr. Koji Hashimoto

Prof. Dr. Mogens MOGENSON

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2013

2014

2014

Mr. Katsuhiko HIROSE

Prof. Dr. Hans GEERLINGS

Prof. Dr. Qidong WANG

2014

2015

2015

Prof. Dr. Andreas ZÜTTEL

Prof. Dr. Bernard DAM

Prof. Dr. Shin-Ichi ORIMO

2015

2015

2016

Dr.Michael HIRSCHE

Prof. Dr. Bjørn HAUBACKDr. Young Whan CHO

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2016

2016

2016

Prof. Dr. Craig JENSEN

Prof. Dr. Torben R. JENSEN

Prof. Dr. Min ZHU

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SCIENCE OF HYDROGEN & ENERGY AWARD 20172009: Professor, Complex hydride materials research group, DalianInstitute of Chemical physics (DICP).
2008: Associate professor, Department of Chemistry, National Universityof Singapore (NUS)
2007: Assistant professor, Department of Chemistry, National University ofSingapore (NUS)
2006: Senior research fellow, Department of Physics, National University ofSingapore (NUS)
1997: Ph. D., Physical Chemistry, Xiamen University
1994: M. Sc., Physical Chemistry, Xiamen University
1991: B. Sc., Physical Chemistry, Xiamen University
Prof. Dr. Ping CHEN
Already in 1999 Ping Chen reported Li- or K-doped carbon nanotubes can absorb similar to 20 or similar to
14 wt.% of hydrogen at moderate (200 °C to 400 °C) or room temperatures, respectively, under ambientpressure. These values are greater than those of metal hydride and cryoadsorption systems. The hydrogen
stored in the lithium- or potassium-doped carbon nanotubes can be released at higher temperatures, andthe sorption-desorption cycle can be repeated with little decrease in the sorption capacity.
Pure lithium amide (LiNH2) decomposes to lithium imide and ammonia at temperatures above 300°C.
Lithium hydride, on the other hand, liberates hydrogen at temperatures above 550°C. By thoroughly mixing
LiNH2 and LiH and conducting temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), Ping Chen found in 2003 thathydrogen was produced at temperatures around 150°C. This was the first report of the synergetic effect of
the combination of H- and H+ ions.
Recently, Prof. Ping Chen's group found that NH3 synthesis under mild reaction conditions can be achievedat an unprecedentedly high rate over a new set of TM-LiH catalysts. The activation of N2, H2 and thesubsequent hydrogenation of N are carried out separately over the two reactive centers, i.e., TM and LiH,
respectively, so that the the scaling relations on TM can be "broken." Ping Chen found that the synergy
among LiBH4, Mg(NH2)2 and LiH, can lead to a fully reversible hydrogenation/de-hydrogenation cycle below
100°C.
We award Prof. Dr. Ping CHEN for her outstanding work in the science of complex hydrides and the
combination of hydrides with amides with the Science of Hydrogen & Energy Prize 2017.

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SCIENCE OF HYDROGEN & ENERGY AWARD 2017

Dr. Robert BOWMAN

Bob Bowman has earned the following degrees in Chemistry: B.S.
from Miami University (1967); M.S. from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (1969); and PhD from the California
Institute of Technology (1983). He has worked as researchscientist or engineer at the Mound Laboratory (Miamisburg, OH),
Aerospace Corporation (El Segundo, CA), Aerojet ElectroSystems(Azusa, CA), and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA). He iscurrently employed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory toprovide technical expertise to the U.S. Department of Energy Fuel
Cell Technology Program Office. He also provides consulting
services on hydrogen energy technology via his private company
RCB Hydrides LLC. He has over 290 technical publications injournals, conference proceedings, and review chapters in books.

Bob Bowman has applied sophisticated NMR methods for the investigation of the hydrogen in hydrides
starting in the early 1980's. He made major contributions to the understanding of the electronic structurein transition metal hydrides and the mobility e.g. diffusion of hydrogen in crystalline, amorphous andmetallic glass hydrides. Furthermore, he investigated the diffusion of hydrogen in gas atomized alloys andinvestigated the degradation mechanism of metallic hydrides at elevated temperatures.
We award Dr. Robert BOWMAN for his outstanding work in the science of hydrogen mobility inintermetallic compounds and nano-materials with the Science of Hydrogen & Energy Prize 2017.

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SCIENCE OF HYDROGEN & ENERGY AWARD 2018

Prof. Dr. Michael GRÄTZEL

Michael Grätzel graduated as Doctor of Natural Science (Dr.rer.nat.)from the Technical University of Berlin and received 10 honorary
doctors degrees from Asian and European Universities. He is a memberof the Swiss Chemical Society and an elected member of the German
Academy of Science (Leopoldina) as well as Honorary member of theIsraeli Chemical Society, the Bulgarian Academy of Science and the
Société Vaudoise de Sciences Naturelles. Recently he was named
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He has been
the Mary Upton Visiting Professor at Cornell University and aDistinguished Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore.
He was an Invited Professor at the University of California at Berkeley,
the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan (Paris) and Delft University ofTechnology. In 2009 he was named Distinguished Honorary Professor
by the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry and Huazhong
University of Science and Technology. He also was elected by the
Chinese Academy of Science to be the 2011 Albert Einstein Professor.
He is presently a Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor and Honorary
Director of SAINT (Sung Kyun Kwan University Advanced Institute ofNano Technology) in Seoul Korea, a Visiting Professor at NTU Singapore
and a Max Planck Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State
Research in Stuttgart Germany.

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are currently produced by industry and sold commercially on the
megawatt scale as light-weight flexible cells for powering portable electronic devices and as electricity
producing glass panels for application in building integrated photovoltaics. The DSSC has engenderedperovskite solar cells (PSCs) that have revolutionized the whole field of photovoltaics reaching over 22%
efficiency only a few years after their inception. This exceeds the performance of polycrystalline siliconsolar cells.
Author of several books and over 1500 publications that received some 227000 citations with h-factor 218(07.12.2017), he is one of the 3 most highly cited chemists in the world. His recent awards include the
RUSNANO Prize, Dr. Honoris Cause of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paris-Cachan, the Global Energy
Prize, the Zewail Prize and Medal, the Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), the Ordre demérite du canton de Vaud, the Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society, the King Feisal International
Science Prize, the Samson Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation in Alternative Fuels, the First Leigh-Ann
Conn Prize in Renewable Energy, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Marcel Benoist Prize, thePaul Karrer Gold Medal, the Gutenberg Research Award, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, and the
Balzan Prize. Other prestigious awards include the Galvani Medal, the Faraday Medal, the Harvey Prize, theGerischer Award, the Galileo Galilei Award, the City of Florence Award of the Italian chemical Society, theDutch Havinga Award and Medal, the International Prize of the Japanese Society of Coordination
Chemistry, the ENI-Italgas Energy-Prize.
We award Prof. Michael GRÄTZEL for his outstanding work in the science photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
and energy storage materials with the Science of Hydrogen & Energy Prize 2018.

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018BEST POSTER AWARD
2007

2012

2013

Ms. Alondra TORRES TRUEBA

Mr. Andreas BLIERSBACH

Mr. Moreno DE RESPINIS

2014

2015

2015

Mr. Yixiao FU

Dr. Shunsuke KATO

2016

2016

Ms. Efi HADJIXENOPHONTOS

Mr. Nikolai BILISKOV

Ms. Guanqiao LI

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12 Int. Symposium Hydrogen & Energy

EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018BEST POSTER AWARD 2017
Ms. Marina CHONG"A NEW ROLE FOR SOLVENTS: FROMUNDESIRABLE RESIDUE TO USEFUL ADDITIVE"
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland
WA 99352 USA

Marina Chong is a post-doctoral researcher in the
Physical and Computational Science Directorate
at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She
is currently studying how additives moderate thedehydrogenation of Mg(BH4)2.

"A NEW ROLE FOR SOLVENTS: FROM UNDESIRABLE RESIDUE TO USEFUL ADDITIVE"
In spite of near optimum thermodynamics that should allow for cycling of H2 moderate conditions Mg(BH4)2
is hindered by slow kinetics and high temperature requirements. Studies have typically focused on the purecomplex but the presence of solvent coordinated to Mg(BH4)2 has been found to significantly alter its
dehydrogenation pathway and lower the temperature at which hydrogen release begins. The role ofsolvents as additives to Mg(BH4)2 was investigated and THF was found to alter the dehydrogenation path toselectively yield MgB10H10 as determined by NMR. Various analytical techniques were utilized tocharacterize both starting materials and dehydrogenation products to understand how the presence of THF
affects the mechanism of hydrogen cycling.

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EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland 2018BEST POSTER AWARD 2017
Ms. Katherine HURST"A MULTI-LABORATORY COMPARISON STUDY
OF VOLUMETRIC CAPACITY MEASUREMENTS ON
HYDROGEN-SORPTION MATERIALS"
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA
Katherine Hurst is a senior scientist in theChemical and Nanoscience Center at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory. Her work focuseson understanding gas-solid interactions. This
includes characterization of gas adsorption
properties and chemical vapor deposition
including atomic layer deposition synthesis of
new materials for applications in energy storage
and catalysis.

"A MULTI-LABORATORY COMPARISON STUDY OF VOLUMETRIC CAPACITY MEASUREMENTS ON
HYDROGEN-SORPTION MATERIALS"
Hydrogen storage sorbent materials have shown continuous improvement in the past decade and many
DOE targets have been met in isolation, however, further advancements in materials development areneeded to meet all of the performance targets simultaneously. This is especially true for achieving storageat higher volumetric densities and recent emphasis has been placed on increasing this density andaccurately determining the volumetric capacity of candidate materials. This talk will summarize the recent
findings from a comparison of hydrogen capacity measurements on identical materials among different
laboratories to assess the reproducibility of such measurements.

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PARTICIPANTS

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Name

Address

Tel., mobil, email

Prof. Dr. Kumar Varoon
AGRAWAL

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 8308m:
e: kumar.agrawal@epfl.ch

Dr. Satya Sekhhar BHOGILLA

IIITDM KURNOOLIIITDM KANCHEEPURAM CAMPUS,KANDIGAICHENNAI-600127
India

T: +91 44 2747 6377m:
e: satyasekhar@iiitk.ac.in

Mr. Andreas BORGSCHULTE

EMPAÜberlandstrasse 129
8600 Dübendorf
Switzerland

T: +41 587654639
m:e:andreas.borgschulte@empa.ch

Mrs. Imen BOUSRIHEPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
SwazilandT:
m: 41779589885
e: imenbousrih92@gmail.com

Mr. Matteo BRIGHI

Université de Genéve
Quai Ernest Ansermet 24
1211 Geneva
Switzerland

T: 41223796249
m:
e: matteo.brighi@unige.ch

Dr. Marco CALIZZIEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 216958213
m: +41 76 544 1989
e: marco.calizzi@epfl.ch

Mr. Damien CLÉMENÇON

LRCS (Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie desSolides)
33 rue st Leu
AmiensFranceT: +33 3 22 82 57 75
m: +33 6 58 92 9611
e: damien.clemencon@upicardie.fr

Dr. Christoph ELLERTHESSO Valais
Route de Rawil 47
1950
SwitzerlandT:m:e: christoph.ellert@hevs.ch

Prof. Asuncion FERNANDEZ

Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de SevillaCSIC
Avda. AmÃ©rico Vespucio 49
41092-SevillaSpain

T: +34 95 448 9531
m: +34 61 647 2068
e: asuncion@icmse.csic.es

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Mr. Cornel FINK

EPFL
Rt. des Toches 7 /D204
1026 Echandens
Switzerland

T: +41 21 69 30553
m: +49 78 909 8665
e: cornel.fink@epfl.ch

Mr. Philipp FURLER

ETH Zürich
ML J 13.1, Sonneggstrasse 38092 Zürich
Switzerland

T: +41 44 633 93 78
m:e: furlerp@ethz.ch

Dr. Noris GALLANDATGRZ Technologies SA
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04m:e: noris.gallandat@grztechnologies.com

Prof. Dr. Hans GEERLINGS

Shell / TU Delft
P.O. Box 38000
1030 BN Amsterdam
NetherlandsT:
m: +31 68 010 4295
e: hans.geerlings@shell.com

Dr. Adelbert GOEDE

DIFFERDe Zaale 205612 AJ Eindhoven
Netherlands

T: +31 40 3334955
m:
e: a.p.h.goede@differ.nl

Prof. Dr. Michael GRÄTZEL

EPFL
CH G1526
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

T: +41 21 693 31 12m:
e: michael.graetzel@epfl.ch

Mrs. Efi HADJIXENOPHONTOS

University of Stuttgart
Heisenbergstrasse 3
Stuttgart 70569
Germany

T: +49 711 685 61910
m: +49 157 5407 1865e:efi.hadjixenophontos@mp.imw.
uni-stuttgart.de

Prof. Dr. Hans HAGEMANN

University of Geneva, Dept. of Physical
Chemistry
30, quai E. Ansermet
1211 Genéve
Switzerland

T: +41 22 379 65 39m:
e: hansrudolf.hagemann@unige.ch

Prof. Sophia HAUSSENER

EPFL
Station 91015 Lausanne
SwitzerlandT:m:e: sophia.haussener@epfl.ch

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Mr. Katsuhiko HIROSE

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Fuel cell System engineering Div., 1, Toyotacho, Toyota
471-8571 Aichi
Japan

T: +81 80 6986 0282
m: +81 90 4197 7458
e:katsuhiko_hirose_aa@mail.toy
ota.co.jp

Mr. Frdiolin HOLDENER

shirokuma GmbH
Frohbergstrasse 35
CH-8620 Wetzikon
Switzerland

T: +41 44 932 54 68
m: +41 79 639 49 76
e:fridolin.holdener@shirokumagmbh.ch

Prof. Dr. Craig JENSEN

University of Hawaii
2545 McCarthy Mall
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
United States

T: +1 808 956 2769
m: +1 808 445 7248
e: jensen@hawaii.edu

Prof. Dr. Hannes JONSSON

University of Iceland
Dunhaga 3
107 Reykjavik
Iceland

T: +354 892 3560
m: +354 892 3560
e: hj@hi.is

Mrs. Stavroula KAMPOURI

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Son
Switzerland

T: 786794641
m: +41 78 679 4641
e: alina.kampouri5@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Whajung KIM

KONKUK UNIVERSITY
Neungdong-ro 120,Gwangjingu
05029/Seoul
Korea, Republic of

T: +82 2 450 3502
m:
e: whajungk@konkuk.ac.kr

Mrs. Fatma Pelin KINIKEPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue de l'Industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 69 58064
m: +41 76 24 50323
e: fatma.kinik@epfl.ch

Mr. Youngdon KO

KONKUK UNIVERSITY
Neungdong-ro 120,Gwangjingu
05029/Seoul
Korea, Republic of

T: +82 2 450 3502m:
e: gyodo123@konkuk.ac.kr

Mr. Mo LI

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04m:e: mo.li@epfl.ch

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Prof. Dr. Zbigniew LODZIANA

Polish Academy of Sciences
ul. Radzikowskiego 152
31-342 Krakow
Poland

T: +48 12 662 8267m:
e: Zbigniew.Lodziana@ifj.edu.pl

Mr. Loris LOMBARDOEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 8215
m: +41 79 569 4083
e: loris.lombardo@epfl.ch

Dr. Wen LUO

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04
m: +41 78 684 6796
e: wen.luo@epfl.ch

Prof. Dr. Nicolas MARTIN

University of Zürich
Rämistrasse 59
8001 Zürich
Switzerland

T: +41 44 634 38 18m:
e: nicolas.martin@aoi.uzh.ch

Mr. Roland MESTER

Ingenieurbüro Mester
Säumerstr. 2
8800 Thalwil
Switzerland

T: +41 43 305 7989
m: +41 78 670 3343
e: roland.mester@gmx.ch

Mr. Mohammed MILLOU

50 rue wifaq hay salam
Safi
MoroccoT: +212 672641369
m: +212 524666486
e: adslmena@gmail.com

Dr. Emanuele MOIOLIEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04m:e: emanuele.moioli@epfl.ch

Mrs. Mapula MOROPENG

TSHWANE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
TUT, Pretoria west campus. Staatsartillerie
Road.
PRETORIA
South Africa

T: +27 12 382 3516
m: +27 711 174 476
e: moropengl@tut.ac.za

Prof. Dr. Christoph MÜLLER

ETH Zürich, Dep. of Mechanical and ProcessEng.
Institut of Energy Technology, Room LEE
P201, Leonhardstrasse 27
8092 Zürich
Switzerland

T: +41 44 632 34 40m:
e: muelchri@ethz.ch

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Mr. Robin MUTSCHLER

EPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue d'industrie 171951 Sion
SwitzerlandT:
m: 796048483
e: robin.mutschler@epfl.ch

Mr. Magnus Moe NYGÅRD

Institute for Energy Technology
Anna Rogstads vei 350592, OSLO
NorwayT: +47 4 142 6626
m: +47 41 42 6626
e: magnus.moe.nygaard@ife.no

Prof. Shin-ichi ORIMO

Tohoku University
2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku
980-8577 / SendaiJapan

T: +81 22 215 2093
m:e: orimo@imr.tohoku.ac.jp

Prof. Dr. Luca PASQUINIAlma Mater Studiorum Universita di Bologna
v.le Berti-Pichat 6/2
40127 Bologna
Italy

T: +39 512095149
m: +39 51 209 5149
e: luca.pasquini@unibo.it

Prof. Dr. Louis SCHLAPBACH

Elfenaustrasse 64
3074 Muri b. Bern
Switzerland

T: +41 31 951 8588
m: +41 79 337 3360
e: louis.schlapbach@me.com

Prof. Dr. Robert SCHLÖGLFritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Faradayweg 4-6
D - 14195 Berlin
Germany

T: +49 30 84134404m:
e: acsek@fhi-berlin.mpg.de

Prof. Dr. Kevin SIVULA

EPFL
Station 6 (Bat. CH), CH H4 565
1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

T: +41 21 693 7979
m: +41 21 693 7979
e: kevin.sivula@epfl.ch

Prof. Dr. Berend SMIT

EPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue de l'Industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 693 6702
m:
e: berend.smit@epfl.ch

Dr. Mariana SPODARYKEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 69 58213
m: +41 78 810 7516
e: mariana.spodaryk@epfl.ch

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Prof. Nicholas STADIE

Montana State University
PO Box 173400
59717 Bozeman
United States

T: +1 406 994 7931m:e:nicholas.stadie@montana.edu

Mrs. Jasmin TERRNIEMPAÜberlandstrasse 130
8601 Dübendorf
Switzerland

T: +41 58 765 4151m:
e: jasmin.terreni@empa.ch

Mrs. Miriam WISCHMANNEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04
m: +41 79 781 33 40
e: miriam.wischmann@epfl.ch

Mrs. Heena YANG

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04m:e: heena.yang@epfl.ch

Mr. Jie ZHANGEPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04m:e: jie.zhang@epfl.ch

Mrs. Kun ZHAOEPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue de l'Industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland

T: +41 216958215
m: +41 779951177
e: kun.zhao@epfl.ch

Prof. Dr. Andreas ZÜTTEL

EPFL Valais/Wallis
rue de l'industrie 171950 Son
Switzerland

T: +41 21 695 83 04
m: +41 79 484 2553
e: andreas.zuettel@epfl.ch

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Information

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Map of Switzerland with the two main airports and the EPFL main campus as well as EPFL Valais/Wallis (Energypolis)

Map of the region of Lausanne (https://map.geo.admin.ch)

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Travel to EPFL from Geneva or Zürich airport:
Please go to the ticket counter in the airport and ask for a ticket to Lausanne incl. city. Please also ask the person at
the counter to print you the timetable for your connection e.g.:

Station/Stop
Genève-Aéroport

Date
So 11. 2. 18

Time

Platform Train Comments

dep

13:47

2

Morges

arr

11:41

3

Morges

dep

11:46

3

Renens VD

arr

11:52

3

Renens VD

dep

11:57

0

Ecublens VD, EPFL

arr.

12:03

IC 5

Direction: Zürich

S4

Direction: Palézieux

m1

Direction: Lausanne-Flon

Duration: 0:58; runs daily
http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

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EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS
country code for Switzerland+41...

Internat. emergency
call

POLICE

117

FIRE FIGHTERS

118

DOCTOR, AMBULANCE144

RESCUE HELICOPTER (REGA)

1414

GENERAL112

Dr. Noris GALLANDAT

m: +41 79 246 0320

Conference Vice-Chair

Mrs. Miriam WISCHMANN

m: +41 79 781 33 40

Conference Secretary

Prof. Dr. Andreas ZÜTTEL

m: +41 79 484 2553

Conference Chair

SwissTech Convention Center
Route Louis-Favre 2

T: +41 21 693 4242

1024 Ecublens
URL: www.stcc.ch/
Rolex Learning Center

T: +41 21 693 5126

Station 10

e: accueil@epfl.ch1015 Ecublens
URL: rolexlearningcenter.epfl.ch/

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CLIMATE
Average air temperature in Lausanne in °C

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SOCIAL EVENTSThe Olympic Museum
1, quai d'Ouchy, 1006 Lausanne, Switzerland
T : +41 21 621 65 11
e: info.museum@olympic.org
U: https://www.olympic.org/museum

Electromobilis
Route des Chantons 51, CH-1920 Martigny, Switzerland
U: https://www.electromobilis.ch/

Energypolis, EPFL Valais/Wallis
Rue de l'industrie 171950 Sion
Switzerland
U: http://www.energypolis.ch

Provinsrue de l'industrie 19, 1950 Sion, Switzerland
U: https://www.provins.ch/en/

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EPFL CAMPUS

77• Fuel Cells• Batteries• Synthetic Fuels•Functional Materials

Andreas ZÜTTEL, Prof. Dr. and Heena YANG, Dr.
LMER, ISIC, SB, EPFL Valais/Wallis
Energypolis, Rue de l’Industrie 17
CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland+41 21 695 8304 (Secretary)
andreas.zuettel@epfl.ch, heena.yang@epfl.ch
http://lmer.epfl.ch

ORGANIZER• Hydrogen production• Hydrogen storage• Hydrogen Applications• Theory and Modeling

SUBJECTS

http://hesymposium.ch/January 20th – 25th 2018
GYEONG WON JAE AMBASSADOR
Incheon, South KOREA

13th INT. SYMPOSIUM
HYDROGEN & ENERGYPROGRAM

Michael HIRSCHER, Germany
YoungWhan CHO, Korea
JiWoo KIM, Germany

INVITED SPEAKERS

Noris GALLANDAT, Switzerland
YoungWan CHO, Korea
Craig JENSEN, USA (Hawaii)
Whajung KIM, Korea
Shin-Ichi ORIMO, Japan
Heena YANG, Korea
Andreas ZÜTTEL, Switzerland

STEERING COMMITEE

Registration online:
http://hesymposium.ch/Registration and abstract submission:
Before Oct. 15th, 2018

Conference fee:
Early Bird $ 1550 (Before Oct 15th, 2018), Regular $1750
PhD Students Early Bird $ 1250 (Before Oct. 15th,2018), PhD Students Regular CHF 1450
Including: Accomodation, Proceedings, welcome andsocial events, excursion, lunches, coffee breaks,
conference dinner, poster session

REGISTRATIONGYEONG WON JAE AMBASSADOR
200, Techno park-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
Previous Address: 200, Techno park-ro, Yeonsu-gu,
Incheone: gwjrsvn@ambatel.com
T: +82 32 729 1101
URL: http://www.gyeongwonjae.com

Incheon, Korea

LOCATION