Principal Investigator

Research interests

  • Electrochemical energy conversion
  • Water splitting & CO2 reduction
  • Experimental characterisation of semiconductor | electrolyte interfaces
  • Micro-kinetic modelling of (photo-)electrochemical processes
  • Design, characterisation and modelling of scaled (photo-)electrochemical reactor systems
  • Metal recovery by electrodeposition
  • CO2 utilisation

PhD Researchers

Mengya Yang

Hi! I am Mengya, a third year PhD student funded by the Department of Chemical Engineering. I received my BEng degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Central South University, and then I studied for a Master's degree at Zhejiang University, researching electrocatalyst materials. My PhD project focuses on the development and scale-up of photoelectrode materials for solar water splitting.

Graduated PhD Researchers

Former Postdoctoral Researchers

MEng in Chemical Engineering

2023/2024

Weng Hin Hong  &  Li Xun Khor - 'Recovery of materials (Li, Mn, Ni, Co) from lithium-ion battery cathodes'

Alexander Kovacs  &  Konrad Reents - 'Operation and modelling of a new reactor for solar water splitting'

2022/2023

Sharwari Dixit - 'Design of a hybrid electrolyser system for H2 production using an intermittent renewable power source'

Sid Halder  &  Jinjie Zhu - 'Modelling of optical components for H2 production in modular photoelectrochemial reactors using COMSOL Multiphysics'

Marco Tome Freire  &  Daniel Binks - 'CO2 utilisation in carbon nanotube (CNT) production'

 2021/2022

Lok Wong - 'The creation, comparison, and validation of one- and two- dimensional vanadium redox flow battery stack process models'

Christopher Lawrence  &  Euichul Jeong - 'Metal electrodeposition to mitigate resistive losses associated with scale up of photoanodes in photoelectrochemical reactors'

MSc / MRes Students

2023/2024

Alvia Mohammad Yousuf  - 'Investigating the photoactivation of Mo-doped BiVO4 for photoelectrochemical water oxidation' - MRes in Green Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised with Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

Hasna Sobari Ati - 'Optimising green hydrogen production: A focus on catalyst synthesis and implementation in an alkaline anion exchange membrane water electrolyser'  -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Puru Goel - 'Electrochemical recovery of valuable materials from spent Li-ion batteries' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Adilah Hassen - 'Optimising solar hydrogen generation in up-scaled systems' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Mischelle Thomas - 'CO2 utilisation in carbon nanotube synthesis' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

2022/2023

Mohammed Alotaibi - 'Synthesis, optimisation, and characterisation of non-noble low-cost Ni-Mo electrocatalysts for integrated green hydrogen production via anion exchange membrane water electrolysis'  -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Liam O'Neill - 'Experimental characterisation of a novel photoelectrochemical reactor for hydrogen production via solar water splitting' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Yutong Ji - 'Investigation of metal ion (Li, Ni, Mn, Co) electrodeposition for cathode metal recovery from spent lithium-ion battery' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Sean Baywood Ibe - 'Deployment of carbon dioxide in carbon nanotubes synthesis' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Tristan McCallum - 'Enhancing the performance and stability of nanostructured WO3/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanodes, for medium scale photoelectrochemical hydrogen production via electrolyte fine-tuning' - MRes in Green Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised with Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

2021/2022

Kanyapat Plub-in - 'Electrocatalyst development for anion exchange membrane water electrolyser'  -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Feiran Li - 'Carbon dioxide utilisation in carbon nanotube production' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Bochen Li - 'Solar hydrogen generation in an up-scaled photoelectrochemical reactor' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Alex Fleetwood - 'Photo-electrochemical reactors for solar-powered hydrogen production' - MRes in Catalysis: Chemistry and Engineering, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised with Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

2020/2021

Giovanni Lento - 'Carbon dioxide utilisation in carbon nanotube production' -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Yuming Zhang - 'Optimisation of photoelectrode substrate structures for up-scaled photoelectrochemical reactors via kinetic modelling' -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Nicole Marroquin - 'The effect of light attenuation on photoelectrochemical reactor efficiency' -  MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering.

Yuqi Chen - 'Moving towards the low-cost solar generation of H2 fuel - can metal oxide heterojunctions make this a reality?' - MRes in Catalysis: Chemistry and Engineering, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised with Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

Christos Krigkou - 'Improving the performance of large-scale metal oxide heterojunction photoanodes for solar-driven water splitting: understanding their limitations through prototype device testing' - MSci in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised with Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

2019/2020

Connor Donovan - 'Moving towards the low-cost solar generation of H2 fuel - can metal oxide heterojunctions make this a reality?' - MRes in Catalysis: Chemistry and Engineering, Department of Chemistry - co-supervised by Dr Andreas Kafizas (Chemistry).

Gian Bains - 'A mechanistic study into the electrochemical stability of deep eutectic solvents' - MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering - co-supervised by Dr Sze-yin Tan (Chemical Engineering).

Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP) Students

Maximilian Allison (UG student from the University of Toronto) (2024) - 'Flat band potential of BiVO4 photoanodes - a theoretical and experimental study for its determination'

Bruno Kubo (2024) - 'Development of an online tool for modelling electrochemical thermodynamics' (contd. project of R. Tang, E. Lam and C. Lawrence)

XingYu Piao,   Candy Zhang   &   Maximilian Mittl (UG student at the Technical University of Munich) (2024) - 'Electrochemical recovery of heavy metals from waste solutions generated by sustainability-focused research'

Callum Wootton (2023) - 'Development of a novel method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes using CO2 as a feedstock'

Chelsea Okezie-Akwiwu (2023) - 'Developing materials for low-cost, sustainable H2 production from solar energy'

Ben Shelley (2023) - 'Solar hydrogen generation in an up-scaled photoelectrochemical reactor'

Haiyi Wang (2022) - 'Recovery of metals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries'

Bohui (Robert) Tang (2022) - 'Development of an online tool for modelling electrochemical thermodynamics' (contd. project of E. Lam and C. Lawrence)

Sharwari Dixit (2021) - 'Enhancement of photoelectrode performance in green hydrogen production via electrodeposition of conductive metal interlayers'

Heather Page (2021) - 'Solar fuel devices database: Quantifying progress, unifying reporting, and enabling benchmarking'

Elton Lam (2021) - 'Development of an online tool for modelling electrochemical thermodynamics' (contd. project of C. Lawrence)

Christopher Lawrence (2020) - 'Development of an online tool for modelling electrochemical thermodynamics'

Federico Trotta (2019) - 'Synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using cameillia sinesis as biological reducing agent to produce conductive silver Inks for photoelectrochemical applications'