James R. McKone, PhD

902 Benedum Hall | 3700 O’Hara Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15261 P: 412-383-7407

jmckone@pitt.edu Assistant Professor

Translational Research in Electrochemistry for Sustainable Energy

Our laboratory integrates fundamental and applied research in experimental electrochemistry to advance promising new technologies for energy and environmental sustainability. Our research capabilities draw on multiple disciplines within the chemical sciences, including analytical electrochemistry, solid-state chemistry; inorganic materials synthesis, and engineering device design. Current research targets include: large-scale storage of renewable electricity: cost-competitive production of carbon-neutral fuels; and electrification of the commodity chemicals industry.

Electrochemistry for a Solar-Powered Future

Sunlight is by far the most abundant source of renewable energy, but our ability to make use of sunlight for electricity is limited by the fact that solar energy is intermittent – the natural intensity variations of sunlight do not match well with energy usage patterns. Addressing this challenge requires a means of economically storing solar power. Electrochemistry provides a variety of technological opportunities in this area, including advanced batteries and efficient synthesis/utilization of fuels. The key difficulty lies in making solar energy conversion/ storage technologies efficient, robust, and scalable. Prior to his appointment at Pitt, Dr. McKone developed considerable expertise related to potentially transformational electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies, such as: • artificial photosynthesis, which involves direct conversion of solar energy into chemical bonds in storable fuels like hydrogen or hydrocarbons, and • redox flow batteries, which are promising for large-scale energy storage and can be readily combined with photovoltaic installations. Our work at Pitt is expanding on these themes and exploring new avenues that combine traditional engineering approaches for catalysis and process design with cutting-edge materials synthesis and electrochemical characterization.

Dr. James R. McKone joined the faculty in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in the Fall of 2016. He received a BA in chemistry and music from Saint Olaf College in 2008 and a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2013. From 2013 to 2016 he was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University. Dr. McKone’s research interests include experimental electrochemistry and materials synthesis/processing with an emphasis on energy applications.

Above: conceptual basis and lab-scale prototype of a new energy storage technology called the “solar flow battery” currently under development in our lab.