Bork, Alexander

Education

M.Sc. Elite Fuel Cells and Hydrogen, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Copenhagen, Denmark, 2013
B.Sc. Physics, University of Copenhagen (KU), Denmark, 2011

Publications

• Bork, A.H.; Povoden-Karadeniz, E.; Rupp, J.L.M.
  Modelling Thermochemical Solar-to-Fuel Conversion: CALPHAD for Thermodynamic Assessment Studies of Perovskites, Exemplified for (La,Sr)MnO3
  Advanced Energy Materials 1601086 (2016)
• Bork, A.H.; Kubicek, M.; Struzik, M.; Rupp, J.L.M.
  Perovskite La0.6Sr0.4Cr1-xCoxO3-δ Solid Solutions for Solar-Thermochemical Fuel Production: Strategies to Lower the Operation Temperature
  Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3, 15546 (2015)
• Shi, Y.; Bork, A.H.; Schweiger, S.; Rupp, J.L.M.
  The Effect of Mechanical Twisting on Oxygen Ionic Transport in Solid State Energy Conversion Membranes
  Nature Materials, 14, 721 (2015)

Fellowships, Awards and Honors

• 2016 Chemistry Travel Award by the Swiss Academy of Science (SCNAT), the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) and the Swiss Society for Food Chemistry (SSFC)
• Knud Højgaards Fonden Scholarship
• Alexandre Haynman Fonden Scholarship
• Augustinus Fonden Scholarship

Research

Alexander Bork investigates new materials for solar to fuel conversion. State of the art materials for solar to fuel conversion are non-stoichiometric binary metal oxides such as Ceria, CeO_(2-δ) with conversion efficiencies of more than 18%. The solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency depends on the materials’ capacity of uptake and release of oxygen through redox reactions steered by changes in temperature through thermal solar energy cycles. Despite the promises of Ceria the possibility of increasing the efficiency seems limited.

In his work, a new strategy is used to optimize the solar to fuel conversion by replacement of binary metal oxides with perovskites for thermochemical splitting of H₂O/CO₂ to syngas. The perovskite structure allows for wider manipulation of the oxygen non-stoichiometry, defect chemistry, and catalytic activity to enhance uptake capacity and release of oxygen. The strategy involves development of design rules for perovskites for optimized solar to fuel conversion and better fundamental understanding of the thermodynamic and electrochemical properties of the perovskites and their solar to fuel conversion efficiency.

Thermochemical splitting of H₂O and CO₂ to syngas with metal oxide.
Ref: Electrochemical Materials, ETH

Solar to fuel reactor.
Ref: Romero, Manuel, and Aldo Steinfeld. Concentrating solar thermal power and thermochemical fuels. Energy & Environmental Science 5.11 (2012): 9234-9245.

Intermediate step in Pechini synthesis of perovskite powder