Nirala Singh

• PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, 2015
• BSE, Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2009

Energy Storage, Renewable Fuels and Waste Remediation

Our lab focuses on improving electrochemical processes to effectively use renewable electricity. Many renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc.) provide electricity, but without an efficient or cost-effective method to convert the electricity to useful or storable products. Our goal is to develop processes to store energy, produce useful products such as transportation fuels or industrially-needed chemicals, and clean up waste streams varying from agricultural to low level nuclear waste. This includes experimental catalysis, electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis, focusing on understanding how to drive reactions efficiently and selectively.

Current research thrusts focus on:

• Improving kinetics of charge transfer for redox flow batteries
• Converting sunlight or renewable electricity to fuels and chemicals
• Developing electrocatalysts for electrochemical wastewater remediation

To address these, we will develop new 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.

• 1st Place Perfect Pitch-Clean Energy Institute-University of Washington, 2016
• Washington Research Foundation Innovation Fellowship-University of Washington, 2016-2018
• Air Products and Chemicals Fellowship-UC-Santa Barbara, 2013
• ConvEne IGERT Fellowship-UC-Santa Barbara, 2011
• Heslin Fellowship-UC-Santa Barbara, 2010
• James B. Angell Scholar-University of Michigan-March, 2009

Recent Journal Articles

• Recent discoveries in the reaction mechanism of heterogeneous electrocatalytic nitrate reduction, Z. Wang, D. Richards, N. Singh, Catalysis Science & Technology, 2021, just accepted manuscript.
• Increasing Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction Activity by Controlling Adsorption through PtRu Alloying, Z. Wang, S.D. Young, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, Journal of Catalysis, 2021, just accepted manuscript.
• The Effect of Anion Bridging on Heterogeneous Charge Transfer for V2+/V3+, H. Agarwal, J. Florian, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, Cell Reports Physical Science, 2021, in press.
• Temperature Dependence of Aqueous-Phase Phenol Adsorption on Pt and Rh, J. Akinola, N. Singh, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 2020, just accepted manuscript.
• Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Biomass-Derived Organics: A Review, S. A. Akhade, N. Singh, O. Y. Gutiérrez, J. Lopez-Ruiz, H. Wang, J. D. Holladay, Y. Liu, A. Karkamkar, R. S. Weber, A. B. Padmaperuma, M. S. Lee, G. A. Whyatt, M. Elliott, J. E. Holladay, J. L. Male, J. A. Lercher, R. Rousseau, V. A. Glezakou, Chemical Reviews, 2020, 120, 11370-11419.[Review]
• Structures and Free Energies of Cerium Ions in Acidic Electrolytes, C. A. Buchanan, E. Ko, S. Cira, M. Balasubramanian, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, Inorganic Chemistry, 2020, 59, 12552-12563.
• Adsorption Energies of Oxygenated Aromatics and Organics on Rhodium and Platinum in Aqueous Phase, J. Akinola, I. Barth, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, ACS Catalysis, 2020, Just Accepted Manuscript.
• Role of Electrocatalysis in the Remediation of Water Pollutants, N. Singh, B.R. Goldsmith, ACS Catalysis, 2020, 10, 3365-3371.
• Aqueous phase catalytic and electrocatalytic hydrogenation of phenol and benzaldehyde over platinum group metals, N. Singh, U. Sanyal, G. Ruehl, K. Stoerzinger, O. Y. Gutiérrez, D. M. Camaioni, J. L. Fulton, J. A. Lercher, C. T. Campbell, Journal of Catalysis, 2020, 382, 372-384.
• V²⁺/V³⁺ Redox Kinetics on Glassy Carbon in Acidic Electrolytes for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, H. Agarwal, J. Florian, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, ACS Energy Letters, 2019, 4, 2368-2377.
• A Simple Bond-Additivity Model Explains Large Decreases in Heats of Adsorption in Solvents Versus Gas Phase: A Case Study with Phenol on Pt(111) in Water, N. Singh and C. T. Campbell, ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9, 8116-8127.
• Activity and Selectivity Trends in Electrocatalytic Nitrate Reduction on Transition Metals, J.X. Liu, D. Richards, N. Singh, B.R. Goldsmith, ACS Catalysis, 2019, 9, 7052-7064.
• Adsorption Energies of Oxygenated Aromatics and Organics on Rhodium and Platinum in Aqueous Phase, J. Akinola, I. Barth, B.R. Goldsmith, N. Singh, ACS Catalysis, 2020, 10, 4929-4941.