Davidson School of Chemical Engineering research scientist Dr. Zhenhua Zeng has been selected to receive the 2019-2020 Electrochemical Society Toyota Fellowship in recognition of his research in green energy technology. Dr. Zeng was one of only five recipients nationwide to receive this year’s fellowship awards.

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, a partnership between The Electrochemical Society and Toyota Research Institute of North America, a division of Toyota Motor North America, is in its fifth year. The fellowship, which is typically presented to junior faculty, aims to encourage young professors and scholars to pursue innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology. Through this fellowship, ECS and Toyota hope to see further innovative and unconventional technologies borne from electrochemical research.

The award was announced by Mr. Shannon C. Reed, Director of Community Engagement for The Electrochemical Society.

“My current research is supported by Department of Energy Fuel Cell Technologies Office, in collaboration with 3M, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and John Hopkins University,” said Dr. Zeng.

“We have met many realistic milestones toward DOE 2020 targets, but the project is winding down. This fellowship will allow me not only to continue the research and but also to make breakthroughs with significance for the long-term targets of fuel cell technologies by exploring unconventional strategies that I have been developing,” he explained. “I am very glad to know that the community has recognized my work and given me the opportunity to keep contributing to the fuel cell research.”

Dr. Zeng’s research will explore the strategies to break the “scaling rules” and eventually establish the principles of scaling-rule-free ORR for the design of the next-generation catalysts for fuel cells operated at a temperature >100°C and to overcome the durability challenges at the high operation temperature.

“This research might revolutionize the fuel efficiency of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells and make the fuel cell vehicles affordable for the masses,” he said. “The replacement of traditional vehicles that are powered by foil fuels with zero-emission fuel cell vehicles is an important solution for the accelerated climate change.”

Dr. Zeng will receive $50,000 in grants to conduct research in his proposal and a one-year complimentary ECS membership. All recipients will submit a midway progress report and a final written report to ECS after one year of funding. In addition, recipients will publish their findings in a relevant ECS journal using the open access option and/or present at an ECS meeting within 24 months of the end of the research period. Lastly, depending on the research progress and the results obtained at the completion of the award period, Toyota may elect to enter into a research agreement with the recipient to continue the work.

Learn more about Dr. Zhenhua Zeng at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/~catalyst/profiles/zhenhua.zeng.html

Read the ECS Toyota Fellowship announcement at: https://www.electrochem.org/about/press-room/ecs-toyota-2019-2020-fellowship-winners-announced/

About ECS
Leading the world in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology for over 100 years, The Electrochemical Society was founded in 1902 as an international nonprofit, educational organization. ECS now has more than 8,000 individual and institutional members in more than 75 countries. Home of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the oldest peer-reviewed journal in its field, the ECS Digital Library provides searchable online access to the collection of ECS technical journals and other publications. Find out about how ECS is taking its digital library open access at freethescience.org.

Source: Dr. Zhenhua Zeng, zhzeng@purdue.edu, 765-494-1291