应李明涛老师的邀请，美国北德克萨斯州大学夏振海教授的学术报告将于下周一上午10点在北二楼11楼会议室举行，欢迎大家积极参加。
       
       时间：2017年6月5日(周一)上午10:00
       地点：北二楼11楼会议室
      

讲座题目：Design Principles of Efficient Carbon-based Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy Conversion and Storage 

Abstract
       Clean and sustainable energy technologies, such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries, water-splitting and solar cells, are currently under intensive research and development because of their high efficiency, promising large-scale applications, and virtually no pollution or greenhouse gas emission. At the heart of these energy devices, there are three critical chemical reactions: oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) iodine reduction reaction (IRR) that determine the efficiencies of energy conversion and storage. These reactions, however, are sluggish and require noble metals (e.g., platinum) or their oxides as catalysts. The limited resources and high cost of platinum have hampered the commercialization of these technologies. Therefore, it is necessary to search for alternative materials to replace Pt. Carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, are appealing as an alternative for metal-free catalytic applications because of their structures and excellent properties. Although the superior catalytic capabilities of heteroatom-doped carbon nanomaterials for energy conversion have been demonstrated, trial-and-error approaches are still used to date for the development of highly-efficient catalysts. To rationally design a catalyst, it is critical to understand which intrinsic material characteristics, or descriptors that control catalysis. Through first-principles calculations, we have identified a material property that serves as the activity descriptor for predicating ORR and OER activities, and established a volcano relationship between the descriptor and the bifunctional activities of the carbon-based nanomaterials. Such descriptor enables us to design new metal-free catalysts with enhanced ORR and OER activities, even better than those reported for platinum-based metal catalysts. The design principles can be used as a guidance to develop various new carbon-based materials for clean energy conversion and storage.

       讲座人简介：夏振海教授；
2015年获美国“纳米科学研究领导奖”； 
1999-2000年在美国布朗大学工程学院从事博士后研究；阿克伦大学机械工程学院终身副教授；美国北德克萨斯大学材料科学与工程系和化学系双聘终身教授；
1997-1999年获洪堡基金，德国航天中心洪堡访问学者；
1990-1997年在河北工业大学任教并任材料系（材料学院前身）主任；
1987年和1990年于西北工业大学分别获硕士学位和博士学位。； 
1984年毕业于合肥工业大学，获学士学位； 

       夏教授有深厚的材料科学，化学和应用力学方面的背景。目前的研究兴趣集中在碳基材料作为清洁能源转换和存储的催化剂和光伏材料；聚合物，陶瓷和金属复合材料的纳米力学；多功能材料，仿生材料，薄膜和纤维材料；多尺度建模和计算机模拟。在多尺度计算机模拟方法 (原子/中间体/连续体)中，首次在国际上建立了复合材料多层尺度模拟理论模型，提出碳基纳米材料的催化机制和壁虎脚动力学自清洁机制。曾任Journal of Nanoscience Letters编辑。应邀参加多部复合材料及多层尺度模拟理论专著的编辑工作，并出版专著《先进工程材料的仿生原理和设计》（Wiley 2016）。已在Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Advanced Materials等国际一流学术期刊上发表论文150余篇。其研究得到了美国科学基金会，美国国家航空和宇宙航行局，美国空军等的支持。