About the Seminar:

The activation and reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia remains a focal point of catalysis research. Currently, nitrogen fixation is accomplished on an industrial scale via the energy-intensive Haber-Weiss process. The identification of economically viable alternatives to ammonia production with a reduced environmental footprint compared to Haber-Weiss catalysis, and which would be amenable to the use of renewable energy resources, remains of intense interest. As such, the electrocatalytic reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia has garnered considerable attention. In our research we seek to integrate computational methods with experimental techniques to understand the fundamental factors that control the activity and selectivity of electrocatalysts for dinitrogen reduction.

About the speaker:

The Cundari Group has been a recognized leader in transition metal catalyst modeling for over 25 years. We work with leading groups in organometallic/inorganic catalysis to integrate theory and experiment to identify novel catalysts for hydrocarbon functionalization. Team Cundari has published ~360 papers in this area, most of them in leading journals of the American Chemical Society; Cundari has given ~170 invited lectures in the U.S. and abroad. The Cundari Group has been continuously funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) for 25+ years for its research in catalyst modeling, as well as participating in leading-edge research collaboratives for NSF and DOE centers of excellence in catalysis.