Electrons as a Sustainable Reactant


One of the challenges with electricity, especially for intermittent renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc.), is a lack of efficient and cost-effective methods to convert the electricity to useful or storable products. Our goal in the Singh Lab is to develop processes to store electricity, produce useful products such as transportation fuels or industrially-needed chemicals, and clean up waste streams varying from agricultural to low level nuclear waste. To achieve this goal, our work includes experimental catalysis, electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis, focusing on understanding how to drive reactions efficiently and selectively. To address this goal, we develop new electrocatalyst materials, find links between heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis, and use in situ spectroscopy of catalysts/electrocatalysts under operating conditions to better understand surface chemical reactions. We will also look at ways to design the overall process so that it can be more cost-effective, and to learn how design of new catalysts can impact these processes.

Energy Storage


Energy Storage

We develop electrocatalysts for understanding the kinetics and improving efficiency of flow batteries.
Image Source- Singh Lab
Screening, Understanding and Improving Electrocatalysts for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

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Sustainable Fuels & Chemicals


Sustainable Fuels

We test new processes for conversion of waste biomass to fuel grade hydrocarbons.
Image Source- Singh, N; Song, Y; Gutiérez, O Y; Camaioni, D M; Campbell, C T; Lercher, J A; ACS Catalysis 2016, 6 (11), 7466-7470

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Wastewater Remediation


Wastewater Remediation

We develop active and stable electrocatalysts for removing biological poisons from wastewater.

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News (@SinghLab_UMich)

May 25, 2020: Congrats to James for passing his Preliminary Examination!

 

March 31, 2020: Our group's work on electrocatalytic hydrogenation, where we provide insights about the Adsorption Thermodynamics of Organics on Platinum and Rhodium in Aqueous Phase, was recently published in the journal ACS Catalysis. Congratulations to James for being the lead author on the paper!

 

December 24, 2019: Prof. Singh's work on aqueous phase hydrogenation of phenol and benzaldehyde over platinum group metals was recently published in Journal of Catalysis.

 

December 4, 2019: Congratulations to Cailin on being selected for the Dow Sustainability Fellowship to support her research for the coming year.
She is one of ten exceptional doctoral candidates from six University of Michigan (U-M) schools and colleges, representing eight different disciplines to be part of the Dow Sustainability 2020 Doctoral Fellows cohort.

 

November 11, 2019: Ben and Prof. Singh gave talks in AIChE Annual Meeting 2019 held at Orlando, FL. Ben's talk was titled "A Kinetic Model for Redox Active Organic Cycling", Prof. Singh's talks were titled "Probing the Mechanisms of Aqueous-Phase V2+/V3+ and Ce3+/Ce4+ Redox Reactions for Redox Flow Batteries" on Cailin and Harsh's work, and "Understanding the Adsorption and Hydrogenation of Model Bio-Oil Compounds in Aqueous Phase" on James' work. Prof. Singh also chaired a session "Heterogeneous Catalysis in Liquid Media II"

 

November 8, 2019: Zixuan won best poster award in the Basic Science category (Advanced Research) at Engineering Research Symposium 2019.
Congratulations Zixuan!

 

September 3, 2019: Our work on Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, where we provide kinetic insights for the V2+/V3+ redox reaction in various acidic electrolytes, was published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.

 

August 27, 2019: Prof. Singh gave two talks in ACS National Meeting Fall 2019 held at San Diego, CA on: Aqueous-phase phenol and benzaldehyde hydrogenation on carbon-supported platinum group metals (Invited) and Aqueous-phase adsorption energies of model bio-oil compounds on Pt and Rh: Comparison between experiment and theory.

 

July 31, 2019: Cailin and Harsh, accompanied with Prof. Singh, visited Argonne National Lab to conduct X-Ray Absorption experiments.

 

July 22, 2019: Prof. Singh's work with Prof. Charles Campbell at University of Washington, where they develop a bond-additivity model to explain the decline in heats of adsorption in solvents vs. gas phase, was published in the journal ACS Catalysis.