Samira Siahrostami | |
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Alma mater | Isfahan University Shiraz University |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Calgary Stanford University Technical University of Denmark |
Thesis | (2011) |
Samira Siahrostami is an Iranian computational chemist who is an associate professor at the University of Calgary. She designs new materials for catalysis, and develops computer simulations to understand electrochemical reactions. She was awarded the 2023 Canadian Society for Chemistry Tom Zeigler Award.
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Siahrostami grew up in Iran, where she completed her undergraduate and graduate degree in physical chemistry. She moved to the Technical University of Denmark for a postdoctoral position at the Center for Atomic-scale Material Design. After two years in Denmark, she joined Stanford University, where she worked with Jens Nørskov and started working on computational catalysis.
Siahrostami joined the University of Calgary as an assistant professor in 2018, and was promoted to associate professor in 2022.[ citation needed ] Her research involves computational chemistry for the design of new catalyst materials. Specifically, she studies the oxygen reduction reaction and the carbon dioxide reduction reaction. The oxygen reduction reaction limits the efficiency of fuel cells. Siahrostami hopes that her simulations can provide insight about the active sites for oxygen reduction, helping to develop new, more efficient cathode materials. [1] The carbon dioxide reduction reaction offers hope for carbon dioxide mitigation, as well as providing a new strategy to produce chemicals and fuels. [2] Siahrostami makes use of carbon-based nanomaterials for carbon dioxide reduction reaction catalysis. [3] Some of the catalysts that she has predicted computationally have since been commercialised. [4]
Alongside reduction reactions, Siahrostami is interested in hydrogen: both the synthesis of hydrogen peroxide for water purification and the production of clean hydrogen.[ citation needed ]
Catalysis is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst. Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quickly, very small amounts of catalyst often suffice; mixing, surface area, and temperature are important factors in reaction rate. Catalysts generally react with one or more reactants to form intermediates that subsequently give the final reaction product, in the process of regenerating the catalyst.
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It is named after its inventors, the German chemists: Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who developed it in the first decade of the 20th century. The process converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using a metal catalyst under high temperatures and pressures. This reaction is slightly exothermic (i.e. it releases energy), meaning that the reaction is favoured at lower temperatures and higher pressures. It decreases entropy, complicating the process. Hydrogen is produced via steam reforming, followed by an iterative closed cycle to react hydrogen with nitrogen to produce ammonia.
In organic chemistry, an epoxide is a cyclic ether, where the ether forms a three-atom ring: two atoms of carbon and one atom of oxygen. This triangular structure has substantial ring strain, making epoxides highly reactive, more so than other ethers. They are produced on a large scale for many applications. In general, low molecular weight epoxides are colourless and nonpolar, and often volatile.
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Formic acid fuel cells (direct formic acid fuel cells or DFAFCs) are a subcategory of direct liquid-feed fuel cells (DLFCs), in which the liquid fuel is directly oxidized (electrochemically) at the anode instead of reforming to produce hydrogen. Formic acid-based fuel cells represent a promising energy supply system in terms of high volumetric energy density, theoretical energy efficiency, and theoretical open-circuit voltage. They are also able to overcome certain problems inherent to traditional hydrogen (H2) feed fuel cells such as safe handling, storage, and H2 transportation.
An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions. Electrocatalysts are a specific form of catalysts that function at electrode surfaces or, most commonly, may be the electrode surface itself. An electrocatalyst can be heterogeneous such as a platinized electrode. Homogeneous electrocatalysts, which are soluble, assist in transferring electrons between the electrode and reactants, and/or facilitate an intermediate chemical transformation described by an overall half reaction. Major challenges in electrocatalysts focus on fuel cells.
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Jens Kehlet Nørskov is the Villum Kann Rasmussen professor at the Technical University of Denmark. He is a Danish physicist most notable for his work on theoretical description of surfaces, catalysis, materials, nanostructures, and biomolecules.
Karen Chan is an associate professor at the Technical University of Denmark. She is a Canadian and French physicist most notable for her work on catalysis, electrocatalysis, and electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide.
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In chemistry, the oxygen reduction reaction refers to the reduction half reaction whereby O2 is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide. In fuel cells, the reduction to water is preferred because the current is higher. The oxygen reduction reaction is well demonstrated and highly efficient in nature.
Alexis Tarassov Bell is an American chemical engineer. He is currently the Dow professor of Sustainable Chemistry in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry. He is also the Faculty Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is known for his work with heterogenous catalysts and characterizing the mechanisms of these reactions on a quantum level.
Ulrike I. Kramm is a German chemistry professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt. Her research considers the development and characterisation of metal catalysts for fuel cells, CO2 conversion and solar fuels.
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