Congrats Thejas S. Wesley on their new paper on ACS Catalysis! They showcase that interfacial polarization alters the degree of organization of species in the electrolyte is the underlying reason for the potential-dependence observed in thermochemical catalysis of nonpolar reactions. #echemsky

Electrolyte Organization Leads to Potential-Dependence in Thermochemical Catalysis of Nonpolar Reactions

Electrochemical polarization is now known to play a key role in thermochemical catalysis at solid–liquid interfaces. However, existing frameworks cannot account for why even nonpolar, nonfaradaic reac...

pubs.acs.org

Congrats Will Howland, Cole Cadaram, Deiaa Harraz, and our collaborators from Warwick University! By using SECCM to analyze aerobic formic acid aerobic oxidation, we demonstrate that the polycrystalline Pt catalyst acts as an ensemble of cathodes and anodes.

Electrochemical imaging of thermochemical catalysis - Nature Catalysis

Several thermochemical redox reactions have been shown to operate via the coupling of electrochemical half-reactions. Here, scanning electrochemical cell microscopy is employed to image the variations...

nature.com

Congrats Vennela Mannava and Joel Gardner! By varying the electron donicity of the peripheral substituents on cobalt phthalocyanine, demonstrated that metal-hydrogen BDFE, rather than catalyst E(1/2), is the primary parameter that governs the HER activity of adsorbed molecular electrocatalysts.

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Surendranath Group | LinkedIn

Surendranath Group | 318 followers on LinkedIn. An electrochemistry lab @MIT Chemistry | Global challenges in the areas of chemical catalysis, energy storage and utilization, and environmental steward...

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Congrats Noah Lewis and Joel Gardner! Using GCCs, they show interfacial proton coupled electron trans., often rate limiting in HER & aqueous electrocatalysis, is a multistep reaction wherein mechanistic substeps involving the transit of electrolyte ions into/out of the EDL control overall rates.

Ion-exchange-mediated pre-association gates interfacial PCET

The rate of interfacial proton-coupled electron transfer (I-PCET) to a graphite-conjugated carboxylic acid electrode depends on the concentration of nominally innocent supporting NaClO4 electrolyte. T...

cell.com

Congrats Hai-Xu Wang! CO₂ hydrogenation to formate and NAD⁺ hydrogenation to NADH — long considered purely non-electrochemical heterolytic hydrogenations — can actually follow an electrochemical mechanism, coupling oxidative hydrogen oxidation (HOR) and reductive hydrogen reduction reactions (HRR)!

Thermochemical heterolytic hydrogenation catalysis proceeds through polarization-driven hydride transfer - Nature Chemistry

Heterolytic hydrogenations are a key reaction class that includes CO2 reduction to formate and NADH regeneration, yet the mechanism remains unclear. Now it has been shown that this class of thermochemical reactions proceeds through an electrochemical mechanism, with polarization-driven, interfacial hydride transfer as the rate-determining step.

nature.com

Congratulations to Hye Won Chung and Dr. Hai-Xu Wang! Using hydrogen reduction reaction (HRR), where H2 interconverts w/ hydrides, they developed a potentiometric method to quantify molecular hydricity, applied it to substrates including formate & borohydrides, and investigated solvent-dependence.

Reversible Interfacial Hydride Transfer as a Complementary Tool To Measure Molecular Hydricity

Hydride transfer is an essential elementary reaction across the chemical value chain, but there are limited methods available for quantifying thermodynamic hydricity (ΔGH–), particularly among main gr...

pubs.acs.org

Congrats Kunal!

MIT Department of Chemistry@mitchemistry.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Congratulations to Dr. Santosh Singh, Naike Ye, Kaelyn McFarlane-Connelly, Robert Raclea, and Kunal Lodaya, who were each recently honored with the inaugural Department of Chemistry Research Excellence Award. @interphases.org @drennanlab.bsky.social chemistry.mit.edu/chemistry-ne...

Congrats Dr. Deiaa Harraz!

MIT Department of Chemistry@mitchemistry.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Congratulations to Deiaa Harraz, a PhD candidate in the Surendranath Group (@interphases.org), who has been chosen as the 2025 recipient of the Davison Prize, which is given in honor of the best PhD thesis in Inorganic Chemistry. chemistry.mit.edu/chemistry-ne...

Omnipath H2 aims to revolutionize the midstream hydrogen industry based on a technology developed in the Surendrath group. We congratulate the team for winning 2nd place at this year’s MIT Climate & Energy Prize.

Yogesh Surendranath @ChemistryMIT @interphases.org opens the Spring Meeting #sm25 of @swisschemistry.bsky.social with ‚Using Electrochemistry to Understand and Control Thermochemical Catalysis‘ @unibe.ch

Check out this MIT News page about our recent paper: news.mit.edu/2025/surpris...

Surprise discovery could lead to improved catalysts for industrial reactions

Upending a long-held supposition, MIT researchers discovered that a common catalyst works by cycling between two different forms. The finding could lead to improved catalysts for industrial reactions.

news.mit.edu

a little girl is asking why not both while standing in a kitchen .

ALT: a little girl is asking why not both while standing in a kitchen .

media.tenor.com

Jake Yeston@jakeyeston.bsky.social · last yr.

Fascinating chemsky paper in @science.org today from @interphases.org meticulously revealing that vinyl acetate synthesis operates through tandem homogeneous and heterogeneous palladium catalysis 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Great Perspective from Cathy Tway & Sorin Filip here too www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Catalysis at the crossroads

Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis work concurrently in a chemical process

science.org

Jake Yeston@jakeyeston.bsky.social · last yr.

Fascinating chemsky paper in @science.org today from @interphases.org meticulously revealing that vinyl acetate synthesis operates through tandem homogeneous and heterogeneous palladium catalysis 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fascinating chemsky paper in @science.org today from @interphases.org meticulously revealing that vinyl acetate synthesis operates through tandem homogeneous and heterogeneous palladium catalysis 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Homogeneous-heterogeneous bifunctionality in Pd-catalyzed vinyl acetate synthesis

Presently, mechanistic paradigms in catalysis generally posit that the active species remains either homogeneous or heterogeneous throughout the reaction. In this work, we show that a prominent indust...

science.org

Congratulations our very own Deiaa Harraz, Kunal Lodaya, Bryan Tang for their new paper in Science! Check out our new paper titled Homogeneous-heterogeneous bifunctionality in Pd-catalyzed vinyl acetate synthesis www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Homogeneous-heterogeneous bifunctionality in Pd-catalyzed vinyl acetate synthesis

Presently, mechanistic paradigms in catalysis generally posit that the active species remains either homogeneous or heterogeneous throughout the reaction. In this work, we show that a prominent indust...

science.org

We have a new LinkedIn page! Check it out here www.linkedin.com/company/sure...

Take a look at our new paper by Neil Razdan and Karl Westendorff as they develop an exciting new method to measure the potential of thermochemical catalysts supported on electrically insulating supports! www.nature.com/articles/s41... #chemsky #echem #echemsky

Wireless potentiometry of thermochemical heterogeneous catalysis - Nature Catalysis

Interfacial polarization influences catalytic reactions occurring at solid–liquid interfaces, but its measurement was previously limited to conductive materials. Now redox-active molecules enable elec...

nature.com

The Mango Industrial Complex, up to their usual tactics I see

Health Nerd@gidmk.bsky.social · last yr.

Every time I find one of these, I laugh harder. Today's find - headlines saying that mangoes can improve diabetes. The study was funded by BIG MANGO. Wonderful stuff. Better than fiction.

I love it that in Australia you don't just buy a mango, but you can choose from about five varieties in any supermarket

Our article with @interphases.org on the role of ion management in enhancing performance for bipolar membranes in forward bias is now #OpenAccess as a part of @natchemeng.bsky.social’s @natureportfolio.bsky.social Anniversary issue! 🧪 Link: www.nature.com/articles/s44... #ChemSky #CompChemSky

Ion-specific phenomena limit energy recovery in forward-biased bipolar membranes - Nature Chemical Engineering

Forward-biased bipolar membranes (FB-BPMs), which recover potential from pH gradients through ion–ion recombination, show promise for application in sustainable devices. The authors use physics-based ...

nature.com

x.com/meganj6E23/s... 👀👀👀👀 congrats Kenneth and Megan!!

why not join the SURENDRANATH GROUP