Advanced Electrochemistry

Course goals

At the end of this course, a student should be able to:

• Describe the fundamental concepts of an electrochemical cell/system
• Understand the applications of electrochemistry in batteries (different cell types, liquid-based, and all-solid-state batteries), capacitors, fuel cells, corrosion, and electrodeposition.
• Understand electrosynthesis/electrocatalysis of small molecules (H₂O, CO₂, N₂…), macromolecules (plastic recycling, functionalization of polymers), and organic electrosynthesis (from biomass valorization to total synthesis of natural products).
• Understand the thermodynamics (electrode potentials) and kinetics (ion/mass transfer) of these electrochemical systems.
• Know the important properties/parameters that influence the performance and efficiency of these electrochemical cells.
• Know the appropriate electrochemical techniques to investigate specific properties of the electrochemical cells/processes.
• Analyze collected data from electrochemical experiments.
• Use computational tools such as DFT, Python scripts, and open-source data-science packages to analyze electrochemical processes such as phase transformations, ionic transport, and redox reactions at the atomic scale.

Content

Building on the basic understanding of electrochemical concepts in the Chemistry bachelor program, the course covers advanced topics in electrochemistry that will provide the student with an excellent foundation for research, innovations, and applications of modern electrochemical systems. The course consists of a series of lectures, group work/exercises, and simulation. To make it accessible to students with a background in physics and chemistry, or without prior knowledge of electrochemistry, the course will start with a brief introduction to the basic principles of electrochemistry and its applications in energy conversion/storage (batteries, fuel cells), corrosion, electrodeposition, and electrosynthesis/electrolysis. The course also covers some of the most used transient and steady-state electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry, electrode polarization, and impedance spectroscopy. Furthermore, the use of computational methods such as density functional theory (DFT) for the analysis of electrochemical systems and materials will be covered.

Course content:

• Fundamentals of Electrochemistry 1 (electrochemical cells, half-reactions, redox potentials, and thermodynamics of different electrochemical processes: batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells
• Fundamental of Electrochemistry 2 (electrochemical double layer, kinetics, ion/mass transport in liquid and solid electrolytes
• Characterization and evaluation of electrochemical cells (battery, electrocatalysis) by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV)
• Electrocatalysis of small molecules (CO₂, O₂, H₂O)
• From biomass to total synthesis of natural products using electrosynthesis and electrofunctionalization
• Electrochemistry of macromolecules towards plastic (electro-)chemical recycling
• Introduction to computational electrochemistry: Atomistic simulations of electrochemical systems/processes and materials
• Project

Examination Form:
Written exams (60%), Projects/assignments (40 %)