
Clean Energy Funding
SFU News highlighted the grant obtained by our lab in collaboration with NRC and Ionomr Innovations Inc. Read more in
SFU News highlighted the grant obtained by our lab in collaboration with NRC and Ionomr Innovations Inc. Read more in
Congratulations to Kate Fraser (Ph. D. Candidate) and Luigi Tiano (M. Sc. Candidate) for your outstanding poster contributions. Kate and
On October 28th, we had the pleasure to welcome Prof. Shannon W. Boettcher from University of Oregon for a special
Dr. Steven Holdcroft is President of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), a Professor of Chemistry, and former Chair of the Department. He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Electrochemical Materials.
He researches ionic polymers, electrochemistry, and fuel cell technology, and has authored/co-authored 300+ articles. He was the Technical Program Chair of Pacifichem 2010 and Pacifichem 2015. More recently, he was the Group Chair of NSERC’s Evaluation Group 1504 (Chemistry) and served on the Committee for Discovery Research reporting to the Vice President, Research NSERC.
He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the journals Chemistry of Materials (ACS) and Energy and Environmental Science (RSC). In 2018, he cofounded Ionomr Innovations Inc., a 25-person SFU spin-out commercializing electrochemical membranes for clean energy applications.
For services to the community, Dr. Holdcroft was awarded the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Division Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) and is a recipient of the Canadian Society of Canada RioTinto Alcan Award for contributions to Inorganic chemistry or electrochemical research. In 2018, he received the Outstanding Alumni Award from his alma mater for Academic Achievement.
Hydroxide Ion-Conducting Polymers. The Holdcroft group synthesizes and studies hydroxide ion-conducting polymers for alkaline water electrolysis, fuel cells, and CO2 electrolysis.
We designed a new sub-class of polymers, C2-sterically-protected polybenzimidazoliums and polyimidazoliums, which are exceptionally stable under highly caustic conditions at elevated temperatures: J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2012), ACS Macro. Lett. (2014 & 2016), Angewandte Chemie (2016) & Nature Comm. (2019).
We are studying the synthesis of novel proton-containing polymers in order to further understand how polymer structure controls polymer morphology and how morphology facilitates ion-transport.
Our work focuses on multi-phenylated, sulfonated polyphenylenes, and a method to prepare highly controlled, reproducible polymers: J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015), Angewandte Chemie (2017), Macromolecules (2019 & 2020).
The study of transport of ions, reactant gases, and water in solid polymer electrolytes is of great interest to us. Examples include correlations of proton and hydroxide ion conductivity as a function of water/ion ratio and as a function of membrane morphology, solid-state electrochemistry of dissolved oxygen at membrane/Pt interfaces, and systematic studies of adsorption and diffusion of water: J.Am.Chem.Soc. (2016), ACS Mater.Lett. (2019), J. Mem.Sci. (2019).
We design, fabricate, and analyze various types of electrochemical devices that utilize solid polymer electrolytes.
These include fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and CO2RR electrolyzers, with a focus on component and interfacial phenomenon, and an emphasis on novel materials based on non-fluorous polymeric membranes: J.Electrochem.Soc. (2020), J. Power Sources Adv. (2020), RSC Adv (2020), J. Mem. Sci., (2019), ACS Applied Energy Materials (2019), ChemElectroChem. (2020).
In 2016, with four group members, we founded Ionomr Innovations Inc. to scale up and commercialize hydrocarbon solid polymer electrolyte technology.
Today, this company employs more than 25 people, is central to many global research endeavors researching emerging clean energy technologies. Ionomr has received numerous national and international accolades (Coast Capital Venture Prize, 'Ready to Rocket' list, Hong Kong-Canada Venture Prize, Nouryon International Imagine Chemistry Prize, and the International Start Up Energy Transition (SET) Award.
The Holdcroft Group continues to study chemistry underpinning large scale polymer synthesis and membrane fabrication: Energy Environ. Sci. (2016), Macromolecules (2019 & 2020), J. Mem. Sci. (2020).
Our group has a long history researching π-conjugated polymers (πCPs), particularly their structure-function, solid state, chemically-amplified-, soft-, and, thermal-lithography, their photochemistry, and related macromolecular electronics.
We recently investigates the photoelectrochemistry of conjugated polymers, a concept we introduced in the 90’s and which has re-emerged under the topic, “solar fuels”: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (2019), Synthetic Metals (2019), & Can. J. Chem., 96 (2018).
Outstanding undergraduate students from Canada are encouraged to apply for an NSERC Undergraduate Research Award. SFU undergraduate students interested in developing their research skills in areas of polymer chemistry and/or electrochemistry should contact Dr. Steven Holdcroft regarding courses CHEM 481, 482, and 483.
Opportunities are available for exceptional, self-motivated students to enter the Ph.D. or M.Sc. program in the Department of Chemistry. Areas of research include the design, synthesis, study and implementation of electroactive, functional polymers and electrodes. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit a cover letter, CV and a copy of their transcripts to holcrof@sfu.ca.
New postdoctoral positions become available from time-to-time. Applicants are expected to have expertise in either polymer chemistry, organic materials science, electrochemistry, synthetic organic chemistry. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit a cover letter, CV, and any other information that may be relevant, e.g., a sample publication, reference letters, to holcrof@sfu.ca. Regrettably, due to the large volume of applications received, only exceptional candidates will be contacted.
Correspondence
Office: SSB 8102
Tel: (778) 782.4221
holdcrof@sfu.ca
Attn: Steven Holdcroft, Professor
Department of Chemistry
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive, Burnaby,
Greater Vancouver, BC
Canada V5A 1S6
Pete has an MChem from the University of Southampton, UK, and a PhD in PEMFC technology from the Centre for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research at the University of Birmingham, UK.
His research interests are in the development and characterisation of new materials for PEMFCs and carbon dioxide electro-reduction cells. In his spare time you will likely find him on the mat training BJJ and Japanese Jiu Jitsu.
Kingsly has a diverse academic background. He received B.Eng from Central South University, China and M.Sc from University of Victoria, Canada, studying organometallic chemistry.
Kingsly enjoys his life and research in SFU. If he is not in the lab studying water permeation and catalyst layers, very likely he is playing squash or hunting for good restaurants in metro Vancouver.
He loves writing his gourmet blog in the pub.
Xin completed her B.Sc. degree in chemistry at St. Francis Xavier University focusing on electroactive materials modified carbon-based supercapacitors.
She is now pursuing her graduate study on water electrolysis using proton exchange membranes in Holdcroft’s group.
She is an amateur of Chinese traditional musical instruments and loves cooking in her spare time.
Luigi graduated with a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Milan (Italy).
His main scientific interests are chemical characterization and learning new analytical techniques. His project focuses on the relationship between the chemical structure of Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM) and their degradation process.
In his free time, he’s the stereotypical geek: he plays videogames, writes fantasy novels and collects random pieces of trivia to impress his friends.
My research is focused on the development of pre-functionalized monomers.
Different methods of polymerization are tried such as Yamamoto coupling, [3+2] Huisgen addition and [4+2] Diels-Alder cycloaddition to obtained well defined electrolytes polymers.
Applications are related to water purification, electrolyzer and Fuel – Cell.
I like hiking, biking, swimming, brewing beers
Philip Overton has Chemistry BSc (Imperial College London, UK), MSc Polymer Chemistry (Helsinki University, Finland), and Ph.D Polymer Science (Université Grenoble-Alpes, France).
His research experience is broadly within polymer synthesis and characterisation.
Philip’s present research interest is the structure-property relationships of poly(imidazolium)s for anion transport.
Kate has an MChem from Lancaster University in the UK, with her research focussed upon developing small molecules for solar thermal fuels.
She moved to SFU for a PhD and is currently interested in developing structure – property relationships of poly(imidazolium)s for anion exchange membranes.
In her free time, Kate likes to be exploring BC on her bike or hiking up the mountains.
Binyu graduated with a B. Eng. in Chemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology and a M. Sc in Chemistry from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Before joining Dr. Holdcroft’s group, he worked on developing more efficient anode catalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.
Now, he starts to study the water electrolysis on our anion exchange membrane (HMT-PMBI). In his free time, you may find him in the gym.
Sidney is a first year graduate student in the Holdcroft Lab interested in characterizing the ionic conductivity and permselectivity on anion exchange membranes.
She received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Waterloo in 2017 where she worked in Jean Duhamel’s lab during her thesis project and proved the ability of using Model Free Analysis (MFA).
In her spare time, Sidney enjoys playing piano, skiing and is a food lover.
Emmanuel got his bachelors degree in Engineering Physics at Obafemi Awolowo University, his research focus was on Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC).
He went on to work in the industry for two years before obtaining his M.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town focusing on PFSA catalyst coated membranes for PEMFC performance enhancement.
Emmanuel is a huge lover of nature and wildlife photography and in his spare time likes to teach life skills to kids.
Anastasiia obtained her B.Sc. from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), Ukraine in Chemical Technology. As a participant of Double Degree program, she got her M.Sc. in Environment Engineering from KPI and Korea Institute of Science and Technology. She decided to continue her research journey in Korea and completed Ph.D. program at University of Science and Technology/KIST School.
Her experience is ranging from polymer synthesis to membrane fabrication and full physical/chemical characterization, as well as the application in fuel cells, electrolysers and batteries.
Apurva is a visiting research student in Holdcroft’s group.
She completed her MSc in Energy Science from IIT Bombay, her masters project focused on the mechanism(s) of hydrogen sorption in metal hydrides. Currently she is continuing her PhD at IIT Bombay.
Her current research project in Holdcroft’s group focuses on the analysis of transport properties in ion exchange membranes.
Apurva loves to paint in her spare time and is fond of Madhubani paintings.
Qiliang completed his PhD study at INRS-EMT, Canada; after that, he joined Holdcroft Group at SFU as a postdoc fellow.
His research has been focusing on various electrochemical catalysis and energy storage/conversion devices.
In spare time, he likes playing sports, such as basketball, ping pong, badminton, etc.
Amelia earned her BSc in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.
She studied the products of molten salt electrolysis at George Washington University before moving to Canada and pursuing graduate studies at SFU.
She is currently studying water electrolysis using anion and cation exchange membranes as well as developing bipolar membranes for the same purpose.
In her free time Amelia enjoys spending time outdoors hiking and paddle-boarding.
Mike earned a B.Sc. from Wilfrid Laurier University with a focus on materials science.
He then promptly moved as far away from his home town as he could, and found himself in Vancouver.
His research focuses on the synthesis of next-generation ion-conducting polymers and their applications in electrochemical devices.
Outside the school world, Mike likes to explore the BC wilderness, climb things, ascend steep inclines, and ride down them.
Simon has a B. Sc., M. Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Montpellier and a Ph. D. in Organic and Materials Chemistry from “Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier”.
Simon’s research focuses in the development of an understanding of the requirements for alkaline conducting membranes for CO2 reduction reactions.
During his free-time, Simon entertain people with close-up magic.