Research highlights

Scalable electrolyzers with bipolar membranes

I design CO₂ electrolyzers that combine bipolar membranes with molecular catalysts to achieve high carbon utilisation. An acidic local environment limits carbonate formation and crossover while maintaining selective conversion of CO₂ into useful chemicals such as syngas.

My work also examines how pulsed electrolysis and alkali-metal cations influence molecular catalysts. Pulsing can improve selectivity by preventing accumulation of product-inhibited catalyst species. Studies of cation effects point to proton transport and interfacial pH gradients as important contributors under high-current operation.

This research underpins two patent applications and the CO2Volt spinout, connecting fundamental electrochemistry with practical electrolyzer development.

The Electrochemical Leaf

During my DPhil at Oxford, I developed a platform in which the photosynthetic enzyme ferredoxin–NADP⁺ reductase (FNR) makes direct electronic contact with a porous electrode and drives NADP⁺/NADPH interconversion. Cofactor recycling then powers highly selective enzyme-catalysed organic synthesis.

Confining enzymes and cofactors within electrode pores enables rapid cycling and electrical control of multistep reactions. The platform has been extended to CO₂ fixation, hydrogen-driven synthesis and investigations of the fundamental effects of nanoconfinement.

This work led to a granted electrode patent, co-first-author research on “electrocatalytic volleyball”, and a wider programme of nanoconfined enzyme-cascade research.

Visible-light-responsive oxynitrides

At the University of Tokyo, I investigated the relationship between structure and photocatalytic performance in niobium oxynitrides. These materials absorb visible light across approximately 550–700 nm and have band-edge positions relevant to hydrogen and oxygen evolution.

By synthesising and characterising calcium, strontium, barium and lanthanum niobium oxynitrides, I explored how composition can guide materials design for solar water splitting.

Converting methane into higher-value chemicals

In the Takanabe group, I studied the oxidative coupling of methane to ethane and ethylene over metal oxide catalysts. Kinetic measurements and in situ characterisation helped explain how alkali-metal tungstates and water-assisted radical pathways affect selectivity.

I investigated a sodium zirconate catalyst that achieved C₂ yields up to 21%. Its CO₂ absorption properties influence surface coverage and limit overoxidation. Collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries extended the work towards pressurised operation and a joint patent application.

Kinetic analysis and electrode-scale modelling

I combine experiments with modelling to understand catalytic systems and identify the factors limiting their performance. My work includes custom Python routines for fitting extensive methane-conversion datasets to kinetic models.

In an independent project supported by the University of Liverpool’s Early Career Researchers & Returners Fund, I developed COMSOL reaction–diffusion simulations of enzyme cascades inside porous electrodes. The model distinguished operating regimes and limiting factors, providing design principles for improving cascade activity.

Testing the limits of machine learning

I investigated how well machine-learning models generalise when predicting oxidative-coupling-of-methane yields. Using two activity datasets, I compared conventional random train–test splits with more stringent out-of-sample evaluation.

Prediction performance fell substantially when test subsets did not overlap with the training domain. The study shows why realistic validation is essential when assessing machine learning for catalyst and reaction discovery.