Prof. Paul Kempler
Research Assistant Professor, University of Oregon
Director of the Electrochemistry Masters Internship Program
Associate Director, Oregon Center for Electrochemistry
email, linkedin, twitter, google scholar, office: LISB 430
Paul Kempler is a Research Assistant Professor in Chemistry and the Associate Director of the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry. A Portland native, he moved to Nashville to double major in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Vanderbilt University under the supervision of Prof. Paul Laibinis and Prof. Kane Jennings. He completed his Ph.D. with Prof. Nathan Lewis at the California Institute of Technology in 2020 in Chemical Engineering, studying solar fuels devices converting water, sunlight, and CO2 into hydrogen and hydrocarbons. His thesis investigated high-aspect-ratio features in light-absorbing semiconductors and electrocatalysts opportunities to improve solar fuels device performance. At Oregon, he has developed electrochemical technology laboratory courses integrating advanced experiments with coding in Python as part of the first industrially-focused Master’s program in electrochemistry in the United States. His research interests are broadly described by a desire to (1) understand the fundamentals of electrochemical reactions controlled by ion-transfer and (2) use new electrochemical processes to transform manufacturing and abate global CO2 emissions.
Postdoctoral Scholars
Dr. Ana Konovalova is a joint postdoctoral scholar with the Kempler and Boettcher labs in the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry. She is experienced in polymer functionalization and membrane fabrication as well as full physical/chemical ex-situ characterization of devices such as fuel cells, electrolyzers and batteries. Prior to UO she researched anion-exchange-membrane fuel cells with the Holdcroft Research Group at Simon Fraser University and received a Ph.D. from the Korea Institute of Technology for her research in the Henkensmeier group on the synthesis and characterization of polybenzimidazole-derived membranes for fuel-cells, electrolyzers, and zinc-ion batteries. Ana received her B.Sc. from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in Chemical Technology.
google scholar, email, linkedin
Ph.D. students
Nick D’Antona graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with degrees in chemistry and applied physics. In collaboration with the Boettcher lab, he is studying the kinetics and mechanism of ion transfer at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) under hydrodynamic conditions. He has designed both microfluidic electrochemical cells and nanopipette electrodes for ITIES measurements and simulates the resulting flow profiles in COMSOL.
Kira Thurman is a graduate of the Master’s internship program in polymer science and has also worked as a researcher at NREL prior to arriving at Oregon in 2021. She is co-advised by the Boettcher lab as part of the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA) and is studying fundamental aspects of corrosion reaction kinetics using well-defined monolayers on single crystal surfaces.
Manasa Rajeev graduated from University of Kerala with a degree in General Chemistry. At UO, in collaboration with the Boettcher lab and Hgen, she is interested in improving the efficiencies of low-cost alkaline water electrolyzers by studying integrated electrode-membrane architectures built for gas bubble management. Currently, she is investigating catalyst degradation during hydrogen generation from intermittent electricity sourced from wind and solar energy.
Raj Shekhar graduated from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela with a B.S. + M.S. in Chemistry. He earned an M.S. in Materials Science and Nanotechnology from Université Paris-Saclay where he studied the binuclear activation of water-molecule at transition-metal-based electrocatalysts. His Ph.D. research at Oregon, in collaboration with researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is focused on the mechanism of direct metal-oxide-to-metal reduction in concentrated alkaline electrolytes. Raj is co-advised by the Boettcher lab.
Louka Moutalier graduated from the University of Oregon in 2019 with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry, before working as a high school Chemistry/Physics teacher for two years. In 2021, Louka joined the incoming Chemistry graduate cohort at the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned his M.A. in Chemistry with an emphasis in Chemical Education in 2022. He then returned to UO to join the Electrochemistry Masters Internship Program (class of 2023) where he interned with EnZinc studying advanced anodes for secondary zinc batteries. As a Ph.D. student he is researching metal oxide/metal conversion reactions in alkaline zinc anodes for grid-scale energy storage.
Alumni
Carinna Lapson (PNNL)
Sara Scodellaro (Moses Lake Industries)
Casey Mezerkor (PNNL)
Linn Kelley (NREL)
João Victor De Moraes Morgado (Natron)
Serafina Fortiner (Nel Hydrogen)
Gainer Phay (ESS Inc.)
Antowan Davtians (Redwood Materials)
Karana Dunn (ESS Inc.)
Mark Mancini (HRL)