On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, Professor Charles Dismukes hosted Professor Paul Smith (Valparaiso University). Dr. Paul Smith is a former PhD student. At the seminar, Dr. Paul Smith presented the topic "In-Situ Redox Syntheses of Energy Storage Materials."
Materials that host silver ions are only one redox step away from becoming viable catalysts for oxygen and CO2 reduction, agents for antifungal activity, ultrasensitive tools for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, or battery cathodes paired with virtually any anode. However, the difference between the former three and the latter depends on how the product silver metal distributes on the surface vs. within the bulk. In this talk, I’ll discuss the tradeoffs of manganese, vanadium, and molybdenum oxide host frameworks, culminating with in-situ spectroscopy studies that image entire electrodes. I will briefly discuss some perspectives of a Rutgers alumnus in a career in chemical education at one of the few universities with an operational solar furnace.