Topic of Research Seminar: Advanced Nanoscale Materials for Electrocatalysis and Energy Conversion

Abstract: The demand and consumption of energy is expected to be doubled in the coming 50 years and meanwhile, the energy cost is also expected to rise significantly. Fossil fuels, currently the leading source of energy, subsidize a lot of CO2 to the environment causing many environmental issues including the greenhouse effect. To address these challenges, the ‘H2’ based economy is one of the vital scientific and political debates being the cleanest of all the fossil fuels with the highest mass-energy density (120-140 MJ/Kg). Water, being a renewable source, is a promising candidate in this regard because of its ability for the production of H2 (HER) and O2 (OER). OER is the 4e¯ multistep process with a demand of 240-600 mV extra energy, which makes it more sluggish kinetically. Until now, RuO2 and IrO2 are among the best electrocatalysts for OER with minimum overpotential. It is generally believed that molecular nanoclusters (MNCs) are the strongest candidate because of their unique optical, catalytic, magnetic, and electronic properties. In this talk, we will present our recent results on the development of earth-abundant and cost-effective transition metal/metal oxide nanoclusters based on electrocatalysts and their hybrid, which have great potential for electrocatalysis and related energy conversion process.

Subject Field of Topic: Energy Conversion and Storage

Name of Speaker: Dr. Akhtar Munir

Professorial Rank of Speaker: Assistant Professor

Email of Speaker: [email protected]

Affiliation of Speaker: Department of Chemistry, QAU, Islamabad

Date and Venue: (Thursday) 19 February, 2026, 02:15 pm, C-Room # 203 New Building, School of Natural Sciences (SNS), NUST Islamabad