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).
News
- 03 September 2024
Welcome, Spencer!
It is a pleasure to welcome Spencer Thomas in our lab. Spencer obtained his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Victoria, where he synthesized and electrochemically tested gold nanoparticles as catalysts for zinc-air batteries. This work sparked his interest in green energy research. He is currently working on the optimization of hydrocarbon-based ionomer binders […]
- 03 September 2024
Welcome, Ashley!
We are happy to welcome Ashley Elgersma in our lab. Ashley completed her BSc in Chemistry at The King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta. During her degree, she participated in a variety of research, including in vanadium-naphthenic acid coordination in the Athabasca oil sands, computational methods for ab-initio molecular dynamics, and the development of online chemistry […]
- 28 August 2024
Lab Storage Clean Up Campaign
Our lab participated in this year’s lab storage clean up campaign at SFU. Besides checking if all chemicals are properly stored, it included an inventory update as well as the disposal of old and /or unused devices and samples. As a reward, each lab member was treated to a pizza or coffee voucher. Thanks to […]
- 28 August 2024
Poster award – Lindsay
Lindsay won an award for her poster on “Investigating the impact of cathode catalyst layer on hydrogen crossover in anion exchange membrane water electrolysis” at the International Society of Electrochemistry conference in Montréal. Congratulations, Lindsay!
- 13 June 2024
Poster awards – Daria and Alessandra
Congratulations to Daria and Alessandra on their outstanding poster presentations! Daria won a prize in the materials devision general session at the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition CSC in Winnipeg for her poster on “Synthesis and applications of n-heterocyclic carbene based ionomers in the catalyst layer of CO2 electrolysers” Alessandra won the first prize for […]
- 10 June 2024
Welcome, Chengkai and welcome back, Apurva
Welcome to our newest lab member Dr. Chengkai Fan. Chengkai received his M.S. degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Akron, United States, in 2019. He subsequently obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, United States, in 2024. His research focused on the design and synthesis of functional polymer […]
- 03 June 2024
Clean Hydrogen Hub at SFU
Check out SFU’s newest facility for on-site production of hydrogen and research on clean energy. Representatives from government, industry, organisation and research founding partners came to SFU for the announcement of the new hydrogen hub. The hub will be led by Steve as the inaugural scientific director. Read more about the hydrogen hub and the […]
- 31 May 2024
Governor General’s Innovation Award – Steve
We are proud to announce that Steve and former PhD student of the group Ben Britton are awarded the Governor General’s Innovation Award 2024. “The Innovation Awards recognize and celebrate outstanding individuals and teams who contribute to our country’s success, who help shape our future and inspire the next generation” Read more about the about […]
- 30 May 2024
Congratulations Sydney, Jacob and Daria!
Sydney successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “A study of ion transport in anion exchange membranes”. Nicely done! We enojyed looking at your colourful chemistry and wish you all the best for your future. Jacob successfully defended his Master thesis titled “Investigating Transport of Ethanol within Hydrocarbon Anion Exchange Membranes for CO2 Electrolysis”. He will […]
- 12 March 2024
Postdoc Presentation Award – Marina
Congratulations to Marina for being awarded the third prize in the 10th annual SFU Postdoctoral Research Day with her presentation on “Synthesis and characterisation of fluorine-free polymers in energy conversion devices”.
- 12 January 2024
Farewell, Torben!
It is time to say goodbye to Torben, who is stepping into a new adventure at the Paul Scherer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. Wishing you every success on your exciting journey ahead. Torben has been an exceptional team member, and a great mentor to many students in the lab, his advice has been indispensable. We […]
- 18 December 2023
Undergrad Presentation Award – Daria
Daria won the first prize for presenting the first half of her CHEM484 work at the Fall 2023 Chemistry Undergrad Research Presentation Competition at SFU, congratulations! Her presentation, titled “Synthesis and Application of N-Heterocyclic Carbene Based Ionomers in the Catalyst Layer of CO2 Electrolysers” was awarded with a Travel and Research grant that will allow […]
- 18 December 2023
All the best, Emmanuel!
It’s time to give a big shout-out to Emmanuel as he wrapped up an awesome PhD journey in the Lab! Emmanuel’s moving on, and we’re stoked to see him take his skills, know-how, and can-do attitude over to Solvay in the US! Emmanuel was hugely successful during his time in the Lab, and we wish […]
- 22 November 2023
Awarded the Montréal Medal 2024
Steve was awarded the Montréal Medal 2024, congratulations! The Montréal Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and honour to a resident of Canada who has shown significant leadership in or has made an outstanding contribution to the profession of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada. The medal is awarded yearly by Chemical Insitute […]
- 22 November 2023
All the best, Kate!
Having finalized a tremendously successful PhD, Kate’s time in the Lab comes to an end and we bid her farewell! We are glad to see that she will be bringing her expertise, experience, and drive to Cummins Inc, a global power technology leader working on all things hydrogen and on bringing these exciting devices into […]
- 15 November 2023
Poster Prize and Travel Award – Jacob
Jake won the most recent poster competition held at SFU Chemistry, congratulations! His poster, titled “Investigating Rates of Product Cross-Over across AEMs in CO2 Reduction Cells” was awarded with a Travel and Research grant that will allow him to bring some of his excellent work to conferences and workshops to help make sense of the […]
- 07 November 2023
Best wishes, Chase!
While we’re sad to bid farewell to Chase, we’re also happy to see him embark on an exciting new chapter in his career! He’s leaving the lab to join Svante, a dynamic startup dedicated to carbon capture solutions, as a Chemical Failure Mode Scientist. Chase has been an integral part of our team, and his […]
- 20 October 2023
Congratulations Emmanuel and H2Xplore!
We are proud to announce that Emmanuel, who not only is a dedicated researcher, but also a remarkable entrepreneur, won the recent i2IVenture Pitch Competition hosted by the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, with his venture H2Xplore! Congrats! H2Xplore specializes in cost-effective fuel cell testing services which is a much-needed expertise in […]
- 20 October 2023
Congratulations, Kate!
We are very proud to announce that Kate successfully defended her PhD! In her work, titled “An Investigation of Poly(Imidazolium)s for Alkaline Energy Storage and Conversion Devices”, she combined a broad range of synthetic, theoretical, and analytical projects on poly(imidazolium)s. Her findings will help us be able to more precisely tune the properties of these fascinating […]
- 29 September 2023
Welcome, Halle!
A very warm welcome to Halle Murphy! She is joining the lab as a M. Sc. candidate having completed her B.Sc in chemistry at Trent university in Peterborough, Ontario. She spent her final year of undergraduate studies researching in the inorganic materials chemistry lab under Professor Andrew Vreugdenhil, focusing on surface analysis of activated composites […]
- 25 September 2023
Welcome, Lindsay!
We are happy to welcome our newest member to the lab, Lindsay Sanderson! Lindsay is a proud graduate of Dalhousie University, holding a B.Eng in Chemical Engineering and having completed the enriching co-operative education program. Her journey so far has led her to Rayleigh Solar Tech, a dynamic Halifax-based startup, where she immersed herself in […]
- 10 July 2023
Welcome, Ravinder!
We welcome our most recent addition to the lab – Ravinder Singh, an experienced post-doctoral research fellow that completed his postdoctoral stays at University of Waterloo and the National Taiwan University, after having completed his PhD at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The extensive synthetic experience he acquired during his time in academia […]
- 25 May 2023
Bringing novel materials to the C2MCI
We were happy to be part of a very successful general meeting of the Carbon to Metal Coating Institute (C2MCI), funded by the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), at Queens University in Kingston (Ontario), on May 9th-10th. Steven and Chase presented new materials that will be studied within the project which we support with […]
- 23 May 2023
Welcome, Subash!
It’s a pleasure to announce that Subash Rajasekar, a post-doc that completed his PhD in a collaborative program between SFU and the Indian Oil Corporation, is joining the Lab and bringing his expertise to projects concerning CO2 electrolyzers and PEM fuel cells! Subash holds a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, […]
- 05 May 2023
Welcome, Daria!
We welcome Daria Cirlan, an undergraduate student who is joining us via her NSERC USRA as the newest member of the Lab! She will be joining the synthesis team and work on NHC polymers. Daria is currently pursuing her B.Sc. in Chemistry and MBB at SFU. She studied HEK293T cells as part of her molecular […]
- 17 April 2023
Congratulations and all the best, Amelia!
Amelia successfully defended her PhD thesis on “Hydrogen generation using novel hydrocarbon anion, cation, and bipolar membrane materials“! She will be using her understanding of ion conduction in next-generation polymer electrolyte membranes to accelerate device development in her role at Ionomr Innovations Inc. where she is part of the electrolysis team!
- 13 March 2023
All the best, Simon!
Best wishes Simon for your new role at Ionomr Innovations Inc. as a Senior Polymer Chemist, staying at the forefront of innovative material design for a range of energy conversion devices!
- 10 February 2023
Congratulations Kate
Congratulations Kate for your outstanding presentation. Kate Fraser is a Ph. D. Student in the holdcroft lab working on the synthesis of novel polyimidazoliums. Her research was awarded last week with a travel grant during the Chemistry departement oral competition.
- 16 January 2023
Welcome Marina
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dr. Marina Bauer in our group! Marina obtained her PhD from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, where she worked on the surface modification of graphite electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. During her PhD, she spent four months at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, synthesising organic linkers for […]
- 25 November 2022
Best wishes Ana!
Best wishes Ana for your new position as a Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Oregon in Shannon Boettcher’s group!
- 29 September 2022
Welcome Alessandra!
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Alessandra in our group! Alessandra obtained her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, where she also got her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Science – Chemistry. During her Ph.D., she did part of her studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. Alessandra’s background […]
- 31 August 2022
Best Wishes Pete!
Best wishes to Dr. Peter Mardle! Pete started right before the pandemic and carried out the development of the CO2 electrolysis within the group. Your enthusiasm and great taste for beers will be dearly missed!We wish you all the best at your new position at NRC as Assistant Research Officer!
- 03 May 2022
Featured in CIC NEWS
The Chemical Institute of Canada wrote an article about our materials and discoveries. Read the full article by clicking the link below!
- 26 April 2022
Best wishes Philip!
Best wishes to Dr. Philip Overton that is leaving us to start a new adventure at Ballard. We wish you all the best for this next step in your career!
- 02 March 2022
Congratulations John
Congratulations to Jonathan who won the Melanie O’Neill Chemistry undegraduate award. The Melanie O’Neill Chemistry Undergraduate Research Award is granted annually and recognizes outstanding students who are pursuing an undergraduate degree in Chemistry. This award is made on the nomination of the Chemistry Undergraduate Studies Committee on the basis of demonstrated research excellence by the […]
- 02 March 2022
Congratulations Kate
Kate was awarded a Mitacs Global link award to spend a research semester at the University of Strasbourg.
- 02 March 2022
Congratulations Sydney and Binyu
Congratulations to Sydney and Binyu for their departmental poster prizes!
- 24 January 2022
Congratulations Jonathan
After defending his undergrad project, Jonathan has won the Fall 2021 Chemistry Undergraduate Presentation Award. Congratulations John for your great work and presentation!
- 16 December 2021
Congratulations Xin!
Congratulations to Xin who defended successfully her Master Thesis. We wish you all the best!
- 23 November 2021
Post-doc position available
We have a post-doctoral position available in our group. Application procedure:Interested applicants should submit a CV, a cover letter explaining why they are interested in joiningthe Holdcroft group and the names of three references to recruitment(at)holdcroftlab.com
- 23 November 2021
Welcome Torben
We have the pleasure to welcome Torben Saatkamp, a new post-doctoral fellow! Torben joined the lab to add to the team currently working on CO2 electrolysis, following his PhD that he completed at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart (Germany). Torben’s background is in characterization and development of hydrocarbon ionomer membranes […]
- 11 September 2021
Congratulations Steve!
On September 7th, Steve has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Membership in the RSC is the Canada’s highest academic honour. Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences, and The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. The RSC. […]
- 11 September 2021
Welcome to the crew!
We have the pleasure to welcome 3 new students in our group. Franklin Egemole – Ph.D. StudentJacob Keffer – M. Sc. StudentJonathan Hui – Undergraduate Student You can find more information on their bio in the team members section!
- 09 August 2021
Best wishes Thomas!
Best wishes to Dr. Thomas Skalski that is leaving us to start a new adventure at Ionomr Innovations. We wish you all the best for this next step in your career!
- 02 May 2021
Best wishes Qiliang!
Best wishes to Dr. Qiliang Wei who is moving on to bigger and better things after spending two years with us.
- 06 April 2021
Congratulations Emmanuel
Congratulations to Emmanuel on being awarded a 2021 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship!
- 31 March 2021
Congratulations Mike
Mike Adamski, Ph. D. was awarded the Macromolecular Science & Engineering Graduate Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada. Congratulations, for this wonderful job! Mike is now working as a Senior researcher at Ionomr Innovations.
- 31 March 2021
Some news from our past members
We are very happy to share some news from our past members Thomas Holmes (MSc, 2019) has recently joined Ballard Power Systems, Greater Vancouver. Nicolas Peressin (MSc, 2019) has recently joined Ballard Power Systems, Greater Vancouver. Jessica Luo (PhD, 2017) has recently joined Ballard Power Systems, Greater Vancouver after a postdoctoral fellowship with LBL Makoto […]
- 11 March 2021
First EDI Group Meeting
Following Women International Day and Women in Science Day, last week we had our first EDI group meeting focused on Gender Equality in Science. We watched the lecture of Paul Walton : Gender Equality in Science: Why is it taking so long? followed by reactions and discussions on this topic. This is a first step […]
- 03 March 2021
Congratulations Amelia!
Amelia Hohenadel won the Spring 2021 Oral Competition organized by SFU’s Chemistry department on March 2nd. Congratulations Amelia!
- 04 December 2020
Welcome Ana !
Welcome to Ana that joined the group as a Post-doctoral fellow in early December. 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 […]
- 19 November 2020
Clean Energy Funding
SFU News highlighted the grant obtained by our lab in collaboration with NRC and Ionomr Innovations Inc. Read more in the link below : https://www.sfu.ca/university-communications/issues-experts/2020/11/sfu-professor-aims-to-convert-co2-into-clean-energy-with-nationa.html
- 11 November 2020
2020 Virtual Poster Competition – Winners
Congratulations to Kate Fraser (Ph. D. Candidate) and Luigi Tiano (M. Sc. Candidate) for your outstanding poster contributions. Kate and Luigi were awarded by a Travel grant of $1000 each.
- 04 November 2020
Prof. Shannon W. Boettcher Seminar
On October 28th, we had the pleasure to welcome Prof. Shannon W. Boettcher from University of Oregon for a special group seminar. Where he shared a lot of highly interesting work from their group. Thanks a lot for this very inspiring talk and the friendly discussion afterwards.
- 30 July 2020
Congratulations to Nicolas Peressin
Congrats to Nic for M. Sc. defence and securing a Job at Ballard Power Systems
- 30 July 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Mike Adamski
Congrats to Mike for SFU Govenor General’s award, and for his new job at Ionomr Innovations Inc. Read more on SFU’s article : https://www.sfu.ca/gradstudies/life-community/people-research/highlights/major-award-recipients/convocation-medals/gg-gold-medal/2020/mike-adamski.html
- 01 June 2020
Welcome PDFs
Welcome to our new Post-docs, Philip Overton, Peter Mardle and Simon Cassegrain.
Steven Holdcroft
Dr. Steven Holdcroft is the former 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 hydrogen-based electrochemical technology. He has authored/co-authored 300+ articles. He was the Technical Program Chair of Pacifichem 2010 and Pacifichem 2015 congresses. 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 Energy and Environmental Science, Electrochemical Energy Reviews, and Journal of Power Sources Advances.
In 2017, with three former students, he cofounded Vancouver-based Ionomr Innovations Inc., a thriving 50+ person SFU spin-out commercializing materials (Aemion and Pemion) 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 electrochemical research. He has received the Outstanding Alumni Award from his alma mater (SFU) for Academic Achievement. In 2024 he was awarded the CIC Montreal Medal for his contributions to the Canadian chemical community and in the same year received the prestigious Governor General’s Innovation Award. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Research
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).
Low-temperature polymer electrolyte-based devices that drive the electrochemical reduction of CO2 and CO towards value added products have become a staple in carbon utilization strategies worldwide. The emergence of novel, cheap catalyst materials and innovative cell designs have opened a pathway towards economic viability of these new kinds of electrolyzers which heavily rely on the performance and durability of the deployed polymer electrolytes.
Our established, highly conductive, and robust anion conducting and cation conducting polymers offer a unique materials platform that allows us to tune specific (transport/stability) polymer properties towards the requirements of these new devices. We study the fundamental processes at the electrode-electrolyte interface that determine the balance of reactants in the cathode catalyst layer, and design membrane-electrode-assemblies that enable efficient and stable CO2 electrolysis.
(Mardle, P.; Holdcroft, S; et al., J Phys. Chem. C. 2021, 125.)
Contact & Infos
Undergraduate Students
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.
Graduate Students
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 holdcrof@sfu.ca.
Postdoctoral Applicants
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 holdcrof@sfu.ca. Regrettably, due to the large volume of applications received, only exceptional candidates will be contacted.
Infos & Shipments
Contact
Correspondence
Office: SSB 8102
Tel: (778) 782.4221
holdcrof@sfu.ca
Mail & Shipments
Attn: Steven Holdcroft, Professor
Department of Chemistry
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive, Burnaby,
Greater Vancouver, BC
Canada V5A 1S6
Contact Form