EcatalytiX

Electrocatalysis is the cornerstone of the next generation of technologies aiming to convert electrical power collected from intermittent, renewable sources into basic chemicals and fuels or the conversion of the latter in electricity. In this regard, electrocatalytic reactions, such as the electrochemical oxidation and reduction of water, the hydrogen oxidation or the carbon dioxide and oxygen reduction are all of critical importance.

The EcatalytiX symposium aims at taking a look at the current and future techniques, based on X-rays or electron beams, to observe these reactions under conditions as close as possible to operation. Gathering scientists from all Europe, the meeting wishes to shape directions to answer some of the following questions:

How is the coupling of X-rays and electron-based techniques to electrocatalysis going to evolve in the near future and what are the main limits, challenges and solutions that it is currently facing (e.g., time resolution, beam effect, multi-scale analysis)?
What can we learn, by operando approaches, from model systems that can be applied to large-scale electrocatalytic systems. Conversely, how can we mimic applied electrolysers or fuel cells for large instruments analytical techniques?

This symposium will be the ideal place to meet beamline scientists, microscopists and electrochemists alike, discovering state-of-the-art operando approaches and how the future of the field is shaping up.

Please note that the number of participants is limited and that the first come, first served principle will apply.

We look forward to seeing you in Strasbourg to contribute to this ambitious meeting.

Calendar:
Oral communication (January 17th, 2024): closed
Posters (February, 09th 2024): closed
Registration & invited talks deadline (February, 23rd 2024): closed

Wednesday, April 3^rd, 2024

12:00 - 13:00	Registration & Coffee
13:00 – 13:30	Welcome / Introduction
Session 1: State-of-the-art techniques: where are we standing? Chair: Juan Velasco-Velez
13:30 - 14:00	Invited Talk - Emiliana Fabbri (PSI, Switzerland) Title: to be confirmed
14:00 – 14:20	Martina Ruscher (Fritz-Haber Institute, Germany) Title: Insights from Operando QXAFS and PCA for the Pulsed eCO2RR using Cu-based Bimetallic Catalysts
14:20 – 14:40	Meryem Ennaji (ICGM, France) Title: Operando X-Ray Scattering for Electrocatalysis and Beyond
14:40 – 15:00	Marc F. Tesch (Max Planck Institute, Germany) Title: Spectroscopic and Electrochemical Considerations for in situ and operando Soft X-ray Photon-in–Photon-out Spectroelectrochemistry
15:00 – 15:30	Coffee Break
15:30 – 16:00	Elected Talk - Rebecca Pittkowski (Copenhagen University, Denmark) Title: Structure of carbon-supported nanoparticle electrocatalysts probed with operando X-ray scattering
16:00 – 16:20	Raul Garcia-Diez (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany) Title: Mechanistic studies of electrocatalysts for hydrogen economy exploiting X-ray absorption spectroscopy under operating conditions
16:20 – 16:40	Fabio Diongi (TUB, Germany) Title: Structural Transformations in NiFe Layer Double Hydroxide and Ni (Oxy)hydroxides under Operating Conditions for Oxygen Evolution
16:40 – 17:00	Maria Letizia De Marco (IPCMS, France) Title: Liquid TEM Study of Cu and CuPd Thin Films for Nitrate Electroreduction
17:00 – 17:45	Round table: Current Challenges in Operando Studies Chairs: Tristan Asset and Benedikt Lassalle-Kaiser
17:45 – 20:00	Poster Session and Alsatian Cocktail

Thursday, April 4^th, 2024

Session 2: Model systems Chair: Nathaly Ortiz
8:30 - 9:00	Invited Talk - Marie-Ingrid Richard (CEA, France) Title: to be confirmed
9:00 – 9:20	Changwei Liu (ICIQ, Spain) Title: Amine-mediated Electroreduction of CO2 to Formic Acid and CO by COFbpyMn Single-site Catalyst in Aqueous Media
9:20 – 9:40	Hassan Javed (Leiden Institute of Chemistry, The Netherlands) Title: Spectro-Electrochemical Examination of Pt Electrocatalysis Using In-Situ NAP-XPS
9:40 – 10:00	Marco Fontana (Politecnico di Torino Italy) Title: Towards Operando Transmission Electron Microscopy in aqueous electrolytes: optimized liquid flow configuration
10:00 – 10:30	Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:00	Elected Talk - Sheena Louisia (Leiden Institute of Chemistry, The Netherlands) Title: Resolving the gold-electrolyte interface using in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
11:00 – 11:20	Yvonne Soldo-Olivier (Institut Neel, France) Title: The Charge Distribution At Electrochemical Interfaces Probed With In Situ Surface Resonant X-ray Diffraction
11:20 – 11:40	Guixiang Huang (Max Planck Institute, Germany) Title: Liquid TEM Study of Cu and CuPd Thin Films for Nitrate Electroreduction
11:40 – 12:00	Frédéric Maillard (LEPMI, France) Title: Seeing Inside Palladium Hydrides with X-rays
12:00 - 14:30	Lunch
Session 3: Emerging techniques and challenges: where are we going? Chair: Ovidiu Ersen
14:30 – 15:00	Invited Talk - See Wee Chee (Fritz Haber Institute, Germany) Title: Bridging the Nanoscale and the Ensemble through Correlated Operando X-ray Microscopy Experiments
15:00 – 15:20	Chunyang Zhang (McMaster University, Canada) Title: In Situ Studies of Copper Catalysts for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction by Soft X-ray Spectro-microscopic Characterization
15:20 – 15:40	Giulio Cordano (Université Paris-Saclay, France) Title: In Situ Hydration Study of Proton Conductor Electrolytes Using a High-Throughput Approach
15:40 – 16:00	Romualdus E. Wibowo (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany) Title: Unravelling the Oxidation Behaviour of Phosphorus Impurities in HT-PEMFCs via In Situ Tender X-ray Spectroscopy at the Pt \| Aqueous H3PO3 Interface
16:00 – 16:30	Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:00	Elected Talk - Andrea Martini (Fritz-Haber Institute, Germany) Title: Tracking the evolution of Ni-based single atom catalysts for the CO2 electroreduction reaction: an operando XAS/XES study assisted by machine learning techniques
17:00 – 17:45	Round table: Future Challenges of Operando Studies Chairs: Elena Savinova and Jakub Drnec
19:00 - 22:00	Dinner in downtown Strasbourg

Friday, April 5th, 2024

Session 4: Applied and industrial systems Chair: Clément Sanchez
8:30 – 9:00	Invited Talk - Andrea Zitolo (Soleil, France) Title: Bridging Discovery to Application: Utilizing Synchrotron Techniques in Electrocatalysis
9:00 – 9:20	Raphaël Chattot (ICGM, France) Title: Paradigm Shift of Platinum Oxidation Below Fuel Cell Open-Circuit Voltage
9:20 – 9:40	Matthew Mayer (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany) Title: An Operando Zero-Gap MEA Cell for Combined Spectroscopy, Diffraction, and Imaging, Applied to the Study of Ion Effects in CO2 Electrolysis
9:40 – 10:00	Andrea Russell (University of Southampton, United Kingdom) Title: Operando X-ray Studies of Gas Evolving and Consuming Electrocatalysts
10:00 – 10:30	Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:00	Elected Talk - Jens Osiewacz (Clausthal University of Technology, Germany) Title: Electrolyte Distribution in Silver Gas Diffusion Electrodes for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Measured by Operando Synchrotron Tomography
11:00 – 11:20	Marie-Sophie Fernandes-Diaz (Soleil, France) Title: Electrochemical and structural study of NiRu_x heterofunctional catalysts for the alkaline HER
11:20 – 11:40	Enrico Berretti (CNR-ICCOM, Italy) Title: Set-Ups For In-Operando X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy/Electrochemistry In Half-Cell And Fuel-Cell Configurations: The Case Study Of Palladium Deactivation In Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells
11:40 – 12:00	Bertrand Roussillo-David de Beaufort (CEA, France) Title: Characterizing Microstructure and Gas Transport Properties of Electrospun Gas Diffusion Layers in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells through High-Resolution Imagery
12:00 - 14:30	Concluding Remarks, Followed by Lunch

Invited speakers

Emiliana Fabbri, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villingen, Switzerland

The academic carrier of Emiliana has driven her throughout the Globe, from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, to the University of Florida, the National Institute for Material Sciences in Japan and, finally, PSI. Since her arrival at PSI in 2012, she has been developing her expertise, not only on the synthesis of materials for energy storage and conversion, but also on analysis tools required to understand them, such as operando X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopy coupled to electrochemistry. She recently received a SNSF PRIMA grant on this topic, specifically on materials design for water electrolysis and the associated advanced characterization methods and new design principles. She is also one of the group leaders within the NCCR MARVEL centre that aims to accelerate the design and discovery of novel materials. From January 2024, she is co-group leader of the Electrocatalysis and Interfaces group of the Electrochemistry Laboratory at PSI.

Marie-Ingrid Richard, Center for Atomic and Alternative Energies, France

Marie-Ingrid’s professional dream is to look at the crystallographic properties of single nanoparticles under operando conditions, a goal which is closely intertwined with synchrotron methods and the development of their optics and brilliance. The recent upgrade of the ESRF synchrotron brought this dream one step closer to fruition, and, through her long-lasting collaboration with the ID01 beamline at ESRF and her recent ERC consolidator grant (CARINE), she is now able to contemplate the detailed crystallographic behaviour of single nanostructures (e.g. < 200 nm single platinum nanoparticles) under different operating conditions. At the same time, with her team, she is developing tools to facilitate data analysis and combine her operando measurements with simulations and, altogether, build a complete picture of how nanostructured systems behave during catalysis.

Andrea Zitolo, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France

Andrea graduated from the Sapienza University of Rome, starting from his early carrier to use synchrotron-based techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy in the field of coordination chemistry. His professional journey led him to France, where he is currently working as a beamline scientist at the Synchrotron SOLEIL. His most notable contributions to the field are found within the understanding of the structural and electronic properties of complex materials (such as metal-nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts) for energy applications by operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy with the help of theoretical modelling approaches. Within the SPECTROSCOPE ANR project that he coordinates since 2020, Andrea aims to move operando analysis toward the assessment of more realistic interfaces, designing fuels cells and electrolyzers compatible with X-ray based spectroscopies.

See Wee Chee, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany

The expertise of See Wee lies in what is often considered as one of the most challenging operando techniques, i.e., transmission electron microscopy combined with electrochemistry, that he uses to track the dynamics at the nanoscale of electrocatalysts for energy applications. His work is not limited to understanding electrocatalytic systems through operando characterization with electron microscopy, but also in the development of tools to facilitate data analysis (e.g., automated image processing, analysis of low electron-dose, poor signal-to-noise images, etc.) and its combination with other analytical methods (such as X-ray microscopy). See Wee held research positions in universities in the US (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Arizona State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Singapore (National University of Singapore), and in industrial

Scientific Committee

Jakub Drnec, ESRF, Grenoble, France
Ovidiu Ersen, IPCMS, Strasbourg, France
Nathaly Ortiz Peña, MPQ, Paris, France
Elena Savinova, ICPEES, Strasbourg, France
Clément Sanchez, Collège de France, Paris, France
Juan Velasco-Velez, ALBA Synchrotron, Spain

Local Organising Committee

Tristan Asset, ICPEES, Strasbourg, France
Sylvie Bonnardel, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France
Marine Capodano, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France
Camille Enjommet, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France
Frédérique Fraissard, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France
Kévin Jeanpert, ICPEES, Strasbourg, France
Benedikt Lassalle, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France
Jean - Marc Lucacchioni, Synchrotron SOLEIL, Saint-Aubin, France

Deadline for registration (February 23, 2024): closed

Type of participation	AMOUT
Regular participant	€200 VAT INCLUDED
Student	€100 VAT INCLUDED
Invited speaker / Organizing Committee	Free

Terms of payment

Payment by order form for Public organism
Please do not pay your fees.
Please send an order form (which is mandatory for french public institutions) to the following address: conf-ecatalytix-2024@synchrotron-soleil.fr
Please indicate the name(s) of the participant(s), the service code Chorus Pro and the users meeting reference: EcatalytiX 2024 / AG 69230606

Payment by bank transfer
Thank you for transmitting your payment by bank transfer to the following account number:
Synchrotron SOLEIL
BNP Paris Bas
International Bank Account Number (IBAN): FR76 3000 4006 8400 0100 8245 430
Bank Identification Code (BIC): BNPAFRPPIFO
With mentionning your name and the users meeting reference: EcatalytiX 2024 / AG 69230606
Your registration will be definitive as soon as your payment will be received.

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You just have to select this mode of payment when registrating and to follow instructions.

Deadlines for contributions:
- Oral communication (January 17th, 2024): closed
- Posters : February, 09th 2024): closed
- Contributions Invited talks (February 23th, 2024): closed

Industrial exhibitors

Offer for Commercial Exhibitions

Registration is closed for stands.

Stands are available for companies to promote their products and services during the poster session, which will take place at the at the examination centre of European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials, to encourage exchanges with conference participants and companies.

Please contact us if you would like to sponsor this event to conf-ecatalytix-2024@synchrotron-soleil.fr

Given the limited number of places, registration will be on a "1st come / 1st registered" basis.

ECPM, is located on the Cronenbourg Campus - Amphitheatre Forestier
25 rue Becquerel
67087 STRASBOURG Cedex 2

Arriving at the airport

Take the shuttle train to STRASBOURG.
The shuttle leaves the airport every 15 minutes or so and drops you off at the main station, then take the G bus (direction Espace Européen de l'entreprise) to ARAGO station. You'll see the CNRS campus buildings at the far end on your left.
Taxis are also available at the airport.

Arriving or departing by train

FROM THE CENTRAL STATION:

Take Bus G (direction Espace Européen de l'entreprise), exit at ARAGO station. When you get off the bus, turn left and you will see the CNRS campus buildings in front of you.

TO GARE CENTRALE:

Take the G bus, ARAGO stop, direction GARE CENTRALE

Arriving by car

From PARIS take the A4 motorway
From LYON take the A35 motorway and the N83
From STRASBOURG-ENTZHEIM International Airport take the A35 towards STRASBOURG
At STRASBOURG, take the CRONENBOURG exit, after the slip road turn left, go straight ahead, drive along the cemetery in the direction of MITTELHAUSBERGEN.
Approximately 500m after a railway bridge, take the third street on the right. A sign on the right will indicate Campus de Cronenbourg, rue du Loess.
GPS coordinates: 48.60762777192227, 7.715797653304679

Liste d'hôtels (non exhaustive)

List of hotels (non exhaustive)

The Originals Boutique, Hôtel Bristol, Strasbourg Centre Gare (Inter-Hotel)
4-5, 4 Pl. de la Gare, 67000 Strasbourg
Tel: 0388320083

Le Grand Hôtel
12 Pl. de la Gare, 67000 Strasbourg
Tel: 0388528484

Citadines Eurométropole Strasbourg
11 All. de l'Euro, 67205 Oberhausbergen
Tel: 0367707800

B&B HOTEL Strasbourg Aéroport
10 Rue Joseph Graff, 67810 Holtzheim
Tel: 0892233795

For more information, please contact:
conf-ecatalytix-2024@synchrotron-soleil.fr