Coordination Funds

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A future sustainable energy system based on hydrogen is inevitable. The production of this molecular energy storage compound will definitely be by electrolysis. In the first funding period, it was already successfully shown that organic transformations on inert electrodes modified with catalysts can replace the oxygen evolution reaction in water electrolysis, which consumes a substantial part of the electrical power due to the high overvoltage. Alternative anode reactions that produce useful platform chemicals thus represent an innovative alternative to oxygen evolution. In the second funding period, the unusual anode reactions will be extended to ammonia and nitrogen oxidation while simultaneously investigating the production of organic platform oxidizers on electrodes modified with catalysts to unify organic electrosynthesis and electrocatalysis. This strategy should allow further control of the selectivity of organic oxidation reactions. Furthermore, specific analytical and theoretical expertise is needed to elucidate reaction intermediates and adsorbates using ATR-IR spectroelectrochemistry, to visualise the active sites using EC-STM, and to provide the theoretical basis using DFT and multiscale methods. The research group will bridge the gap between the fundamentals of organic electrochemistry and electrocatalysis in preparative electrolysis while offering new pathways into a more sustainable future.