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JONAS C. PETERS

Principal Investigator

Email: jpeters@caltech.edu

Dr. Peters’s group studies multi-electron reductive transformations in the context of nitrogen fixation, solar fuels schemes (e.g., H2 generation and CO2 liquification), and C–X bond forming catalysis.  The group also explores novel concepts for catalysis with Earth-abundant materials and targets fundamentally new inorganic coordination complexes that push the boundaries of current notions of electronic structure and bonding.

Research in JCAP targets the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to oxygenate products (e.g., MeOH, CH4, C2H4) as part of an overall solar fuels scheme.  The team is interested in understanding mechanisms for CO2 reduction using a variety of electrode materials (e.g., Cu) and in controlling product selectivity.  They also endeavor to synthesize new, metastable phases that may hold promise for altering product selectivity and overall efficiency.  These various goals require analytical tools as a key driver for the new science to be discovered, and Dr. Peters is also involved in research towards improving analysis protocols.

Selected Publications

Han, Z., Kortlever, R., Chen H.-Y., Peters, J. C., and Agapie, T. CO2 Reduction Selective for C≥2 Products on Polycrystalline Copper with N-Substituted Pyridinium Additives. ACS Central Science, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.7b00180 (2017).

Jung, S. et al. Gastight Hydrodynamic Electrochemistry: Design for a Hermetically Sealed Rotating Disk Electrode Cell. Analytical Chemistry, 89(1), 581-585, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04228 (2017).

Jung, S. et al. Benchmarking nanoparticulate metal oxide electrocatalysts for the alkaline water oxidation reaction. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, DOI: 10.1039/C5TA07586F (2015).

McCrory, C. C. L. et al. Benchmarking HER and OER Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices. Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI: 10.1021/ja510442p (2015).

Zhang, M. et al. Visible Light Sensitized CO2 Activation by the Tetraaza [CoIIN4H(MeCN)]2+ Complex Investigated by FT-IR Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, DOI: 10.1021/jp5127738 (2015).

Lacy, D. C., McCrory, C. C. L. & Peters, J. C. Studies of Cobalt-Mediated Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Using a Redox-Active Ligand. Inorganic Chemistry 53, 4980-4988, DOI: 10.1021/ic403122j (2014).

McCrory, C. C. L., Jung, S. H., Peters, J. C. & Jaramillo, T. F. Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction. Journal of the American Chemical Society 135, 16977-16987, DOI: 10.1021/ja407115p (2013).

For a complete list of publications, see JCAP publications page.

Additional Information

Peters Group:  http://jcpgroup.caltech.edu/ 
Resnick Institute:  http://resnick.caltech.edu/