Dr. Peter Strasser
Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
S222 Engineering Building 1
University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Ave.
Houston, TX 77204-4004
Office Location: S226
Telephone: (713) 743-4310
Fax: (713) 743-4323
E-mail: pstrasser@uh.edu

Current address:
Institut fuer Chemie
Technische Universitaet Berlin
Strasse des 17.Juni  124
10624 Berlin
Germany
Telefon: +49 30 314 29542
Fax: +49 30 314 22261
Email: pstrasser@mailbox.tu-berlin.de

› EDUCATION     › WORK EXPERIENCE     › RESEARCH INTERESTS     › RESEARCH GROUP
› HONORS&ACTIVITIES       › COURSES TAUGHT      › PUBLICATIONS

EDUCATION

— B.S. Chemistry - University of Tuebingen, Germany (1991)
— M.S. Chemistry - Stanford University, University of Tuebingen, Germany (1995)
— Ph.D. Physical Chemistry - Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Society, Berlin, Germany
   (1999). Thesis advisor: Prof. Dr. mult. Gerhard Ertl (Nobel Prize Laureate 2007 in Chemistry)

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Work Experience

— Symyx Technologies, Inc, Santa Clara, CA  (2000 – 2004)
— Sony Corp., Sony Research Center, Hodogaya-ku,Yokohama-shi, Japan (1996 -1997)

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RESEARCH INTERESTS

Mission

Our research addresses fundamental as well as applied aspects of electrocatalytic surface reactivity at electrified nanometer-sized electrodes. We strive to further our understanding of relations between synthesis, lattice geometry, electronic structure and electrocatalytic activity of novel nanostructured multi-component alloy particles.

Fuel Cells

Currently, a large portion of our research activities focus on fundamental and applied aspects of electrocatalysis of low-temperature fuel cells.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts the chemical energy of fuels, such as hydrogen, methanol or ethanol, directly to usable energy using electrocatalytic processes rather then combustion. In particular, low-temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) are one of the most promising new technologies in the search for more efficient ways to power vehicles or portable electronics.

Our research interests in low-temperature fuel cells focus on novel synthesis techniques, characterization, half-cell / fuel cell testing, and mechanistic understanding of multi-component alloy electrocatalysts with reduced Pt content. In collaboration with research groups from theory departments and synchrotron facilities, our group is a link between a number of catalyst development activities ranging from theoretical prediction and mechanistic study on the atomic level, followed by catalyst synthesis/ characterization in technologically relevant formats, all the way to half-cell electrochemical and fuel cell testing of novel catalyst systems in Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEA).

Areas of particular interest are structure-activity relationships, exploring new core-shell catalyst concepts involving Pt catalysts, and corrosion as well as other degradation mechanisms of alloy catalyst systems in fuel cell environments.

Environmental Catalysis

In the area of environmental catalysis, our research interests aim at structure-property relationships of new catalytic materials for the generation of clean hydrogen from oxygenated hydrocarbon feeds. Industrially available, renewable feed stocks such as methanol, ethanol, and mixtures of both are investigated. Our work focuses on synthesis, ex-situ and in-situ characterization of novel catalyst systems for a number of different feed streams available in today’s process industry.

Bioelectrochemistry

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RESEARCH GROUP (Picture)

Please see our website at Technical University Berlin: http://www.chemie.tu-berlin.de/

Current Members:

— Dr. Zengcai Liu – Postdoc
— Dr. Xiaobing Zhu – Postdoc
— Dr. Kenneth Neyerlin – Postdoc
— Ms. Shirlaine Koh – Graduate student
— Mr. Ratndeep Srivastava – Graduate student
— Mrs. Chengfei Yu – Graduate student
— Mr. Jose Mojica – Senior honors thesis student
— Mr. Rhys Forgie – Undergraduate Research Student

Former Members:

— Dr. Prasanna Mani (UCLA)
— Ms. Carol Stojan (Bayer Corporation)
— Mr. Nickolas Brunson (UH Senior)
— Mr. Nathan Hahn (UT Austin, Graduate Student)

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HONORS & ACTIVITIES

— Otto-Hahn-Medal of the Max-Planck-Society  (1999)
— Visiting research scholarship, SONY Corporation, Japan  (1996)
— Visiting research scholarship, Pisa University, Italy  (1992-1993)
— Visiting research scholarship, Stanford University  (1991-1992)
— German National Fellowship Foundation  (1988-1995)

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Courses Taught

› Fall, Summer (2005-2007)
	CHEE 3333: Thermodynamics II CHEE 6300/4300: Materials Science II

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

1. Hagemeyer, A., Strasser, P., Volpe, A., editors, High-Throughput Screening in Chemical Catalysis – Strategies, Technologies and Applications, Wiley-VCH, New York, (2004)

Book Chapters

1. Strasser, P.; Dealloyed Pt alloy electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in: Handbook of Fuel Cells, W. Vielstich, A. Lamm, H. Gasteiger,eds., volume 5, Wiley, 2008
2. Strasser,P.; Ogasawara, H.; Surface Electrochemistry in: Chemical Bonding at Surfaces and Interfaces, A. Nilsson, L G M Peterson, J Norskov, eds., Elsevier, 2008.

Selected Journal Publications and Patents

1. Yu, C., Koh, S., Leisch, J., Toney, M., Strasser, P. Size and composition distribution dynamics of alloy nanoparticle electrocatalysts probed by anomalous Small Angle X-ray Scattering (ASAXS), Faraday Discussions, FD 140, (2008) accepted
2. Strasser, P.; Koh, S.; Greeley, J. Voltammetric Surface Dealloying of Pt bimetallic nanoparticles: An experimental and DFT computational analysis, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2008) accepted
3. Liu, Z.;Yu, C.; Rusakova, I.A.; Huang, D.; Strasser, P.; Synthesis of Pt3Co Alloy Nanocatalyst via Reverse Micelle for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in PEMFCs, Top. Catal., 2008, in print
4. Mani, P.; Srivastava, R.; Strasser, P.; Dealloyed Pt-Cu Core-Shell Nanoparticle Electrocatalysts for use in PEM Fuel Cell Cathodes, J. Phys. Chem. C,112, 2770-2778 (2007)
5. Strasser, P.; Combinatorial Optimization of Ternary Pt Alloy Catalysts for the Electrooxidation of Methanol,  J. Combin. Chem.,10, 216-224 (2008)
6. Koh, S. and Strasser, P. Electrocatalysis on bimetallic surfaces: Modifying catalytic reactivity for oxygen reduction by voltammetric surface de-alloying, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 129 (42), 12624-12625 (2007)
7. Srivastava, R., Mani, P., Hahn, N. and Strasser, P.  Efficient Oxygen Reduction Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis on Voltammetrically De-alloyed Pt-Cu-Co Nanoparticles, Angew. Chemie Int. Ed, 46, 1-5 (2007)(Selected as Very Important Paper, VIP)
8. Liu, Z; Koh, S.; Yu, C. and Strasser, P. Synthesis, De-alloying, and ORR Electrocatalysis of PDDA-stabilized Cu-rich Pt alloy nanoparticles, J. Electrochem. Soc., 154, B1192-B1199 (2007)
9. Koh, S.; Toney, M.F.; Strasser, P.; Activity-Stability Relationships of Ordered and Disordered Alloy Phases of  Pt₇₅Co₂₅ Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR), Electrochim. Acta, 52, 2765-2774 (2007)
10. Koh, S.; Hahn, N.; Strasser, P.; Corrosion and ORR activity of Pt alloy electrocatalysts during voltammetric pretreatment, ECS Transactions, 3(1), 139-149 (2006)
11. Koh, S.; Leisch, J.; Toney, M.F.; Strasser, P. Structure-activity-stability relationships of Pt-Co alloy electrocatalysts in gas-diffusion electrode layers,  J. Phys. Chem C, 111,3744-3752 (2007)
12. Koh, S.; Yu, C.; Mani, P.; Srivastava, R.; Strasser, P. Activity of ordered and disordered Pt-Co alloy catalysts for the electroreduction of oxygen: alloy phase distribution effects, J. Power Sources, 172, 50-56, (2007)
13. Strasser, P., Fan, Q., Devenney, M., Weinberg, W.H, Combinatorial and High Throughput Screening of New Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts in: High Throughput Screening in Chemical Catalysis – Strategies, Technologies and Applications, A. Hagemeyer et al., ed., Wiley-VCH, (2004)
14. Strasser, P., Fan, Q., Devenney, M., Weinberg, W.H., Liu, P., Norskov, J.K., High Throughput Experimental and Theoretical Predictive Screening of Materials – A Comparative Study of Search Strategies for New Fuel Cell Anode Catalysts, J. Phys. Chem. B, 107, 11013 (2003)
15. Strasser, P. et al., Platinum-Copper Fuel Cell Electrocatalyst PCT Int. Appl. (2005), Symyx Technologies, Inc., WO 2005/024982
16. Strasser, P. et al., FuelCell Electrocatalyst of alloys of Pt and Mo and Ni/Fe/Zn/W PCT Int. Appl. (2003), Symyx Technologies, Inc., WO 2003/071621
17. Strasser, P. et al., Platinum-Nickel-Iron Fuel Cell Electrocatalyst, PCT Int. Appl. (2005), Symyx Technologies, Inc., WO 2005/034266
18. Strasser, P. et al., Fuel Cell Electrocatalyst of Pt-Rh-W/Sn/Cu/Mo, PCT Int. Appl. (2003), Symyx Technologies, Inc., WO 2003/081702
19. Strasser , P . Electrochemistry in Self-Organized States, Interface 9, 46(2000)
20. Strasser , P. , Christoph, J., Lin, W.F., Eiswirth, M., Ertl, G., Hudson, J.L., Standing Wave oscillations in an electrocatalytic reaction, J. Phys .Chem. A 104, 1854(2000)
21. Christoph, J., Strasser , P. , Eiswirth, M., Ertl, G. Remote triggering of waves in an electrocatalytic system, Science, 284, 291(1999)

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