Learn about CBI faculty host Rachel Kurchin's work with CBI Fellow Evan Spotte-Smith

Introducing yourself, your research interests, and your lab.

I'm an assistant research professor of materials science and engineering, and I lead the Accelerated Computation of Materials for Energy (ACME) group in the department. We do computation at a variety of length scales focused on materials for clean energy applications, utilizing both first-principles and data-driven approaches. We welcomed Evan Spotte-Smith to join our group this fall as a CBI fellow to examinine an alternative method to synthesize ammonia using electrochemistry.

What about this fellowship program drew your attention?

The CBI fellowship is an awesome opportunity for a postdoc to come in and pursue a research project with generous support that gives them intellectual independence, combined with a thoughtful advisor-matching program so that they also have the mentorship and support they need to continue their intellectual growth.

Please introduce Evan Spotte-Smith’s fellowship research topic/problem.

Ammonia is an unbelievably important molecule. Ammonia-based fertilizers feed about half of the world's population. On the other hand, making ammonia takes up about 1% of the energy that human society generates every year, and also makes up something like 1.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. In this fellowship, we're examining an alternative method to synthesize ammonia using electrochemistry, which could more easily leverage renewable energy and therefore be more environmentally friendly. The main problem with electrochemical ammonia synthesis right now is that the reactors that we have don't last. Both the electrodes and the electrolytes degrade rapidly. We plan to use molecular dynamics simulations powered by machine-learning models to understand why this degradation occurs and to suggest ways to stabilize electrochemical ammonia synthesis cells so that they become practical for long-term use.

In your view, why is this topic important/pressing/exciting?

The systems and challenges Spotte-Smith is tackling are some of the thorniest but also most potentially impactful to the future of the electrification transition across multiple sectors, including energy and agriculture.

Please introduce Spotte-Smith.

Spotte-Smith (they/them) was born and raised in Maryland. They received their Bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering with a minor in sustainable engineering from Columbia University. At Columbia, they worked with Engineers Without Borders to develop sustainable engineering solutions for rural communities in eastern Uganda, including solar micro-grids. This experience inspired Evan to pursue research related to sustainable energy. As a graduate student at the University of California - Berkeley, Evan used computational simulations and data science to study metal-ion batteries (mainly Li-ion and Mg-ion), trying to understand how these batteries fail over time and discovering mechanisms and design rules to guide the development of next-generation energy storage technologies.

What about Evan makes them the right person to tackle this topic?

Spotte-Smith's background in electrochemistry, data science, and high-throughput computation makes them ideally suited to tackle this project. They care deeply about this research topic on a personal level and have exactly the right set of experience and technical skills to make meaningful contributions.