Andrew Herring

Associate Professor

BS, PhD - Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK
Post-Doctoral Study - California Institute of Technology

Research Description

Research in the Herring group is generally in the area of Energy with a particular emphasis on Renewable Energy. We work at the interface of materials science and chemical engineering and most of our work is collaborative in nature the majority with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, also in Golden. We focus in two sub-groups:

Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Engineering: For solar energy to be exploited it must be converted into electricity and fuels, utilizing materials that can do this efficiently, with minimum expense, and with maximum durability. These materials need to be synthesized, characterized, and optimized.  Furthermore, renewable energy is by its nature intermittent and not easily stored, so its conversion to chemical energy, hydrogen or other fuels, and its use in highly efficient fuel cells is an attractive scenario. We work extensively on polymer electrolyte fuel cells, both in component development (membranes and catalysts) and at the single fuel cell level.

Thermochemical Conversion of Hydrocarbons:  As crude oil becomes a scarce resource alternative sources of hydrocarbons need to be exploited, as in the immediate short term liquid fueled light cars and trucks remain the ubiquitous mode of transportation. The world still has enormous resources of bio-degraded crude oil with high energy densities but challenging flow properties for exploitation. Using advanced pyrolysis coupled with molecular beam mass spectrometry we are developing rapid screening techniques that may allow flow characteristics of the resource to be linked to chemical information.  Biomass could potentially supply a significant amount of the worlds hydrocarbon fuel, however, by its very nature biomass derived hydrocarbons contain a significant amount of heteroatoms and are challenging to convert into a synthetic crude for subsequent reforming. We are now working to develop unit operations and catalysts that will convert biomass into reforamble hydrocarbon resources.

Google Scholar Citations Page

selected Publications

“Electrodeposition of cobalt-phosphate (Co-Pi) catalyst on Mo-doped BiVO4 photoelectrodes for solar water oxidation.” S.K. Pilli, T.E. Furtak, L.D. Brown, T.G. Deutsch, J.A. Turner, and A.M. Herring,* Energy and Environmental Science, 2011, 4, 5028-5034.

“The Use of Metal Substituted Heteropolyacids for CO Mitigation in PEM Fuel Cells.” R.J. Stanis, M.-C. Kuo, J.A. Turner, and A.M. Herring,* J. Electrochem. Soc., 2008, 155, B155.

“The effect of metal doping with sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc or palladium on the pyrolysis chemistry of cellulose chars.”  J.G. Lee, R.A. Pavelka, E.-J. Shin, B.D. McCloskey, M. Kirchner, D. Dounas-Fraser, D.E. Petrick, J.T. McKinnon, A.M. Herring,* Energy and Fuels, 2008, 22, 2816.

“Investigation Into The Activity Of Heteropolyacids Towards The Oxygen Reduction Reaction On PEMFC Cathodes.”  R.J. Stanis, M.-C. Kuo, A.J. Rickett, J.A. Turner, and A.M. Herring,* Electrochim. Acta, 2008, 53, 8277.

“An Ionomer With Very High Proton Conductivity Derived From The Co-Polymerization of H4[SiW11O40(Si(CH=CH2))2] with Butyl Acrylate and Hexanediol Diacrylate.” J.L. Horan, A. Genupur, L. Ren, B.J. Sikora, M.-C. Kuo, F. Meng, S.F. Dec, M.H. Frey, G.M. Haugen, M.A. Yandrasits, S.J. Hamrock, and A.M. Herring,* Chem. Sus. Chem., 2009, 2, 226.