Rodney Smith

• Inorganic materials
• Electrocatalysis
• Reaction dynamics
• Reaction kinetics
• Energy storage

Rodney Smith's research interests lie in the fabrication and characterization of solid-state materials that mediate the electrochemical synthesis of sustainable fuels. Rodney develops innovative fabrication techniques, examines the structure of materials, and studies reaction kinetics and dynamics in an effort to improve the efficiency and selectivity of reactions such as electrochemical CO₂ reduction. The research is interdisciplinary in nature, involving materials synthesis and a diverse selection of spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques.

• Smith, R. D. L.; Pasquini, C.; Loos, S.; Chernev, P.; Klingan, K.; Kubella, P.; Mohammadi, M. R.; Gonzalez-Flores, D.; Dau, H., Geometric distortions in nickel (oxy)hydroxide electrocatalysts by redox inactive iron ions Energy & Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 2476-2485.

• Gonzalez-Flores, D.; Klingan, K.; Chernev, P.; Loos, S.; Mohammadi, M. R.; Pasquini, C.; Kubella, P.; Zaharieva, I.; Smith, R. D. L.; Dau, H. Nickel-iron catalysts for electrochemical water oxidation – redox synergism investigated by in-situ X-ray spectroscopy with millisecond time resolution. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 2018, 2, 1986-1994.

• Smith, R. D. L.; Pasquini, C.; Loos, S.; Chernev, P.; Klingan, K.; Kubella, P.; Mohammadi, M. R.; Gonzalez-Flores, D.; Dau, H., Spectroscopic Identification of Active Sites for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction on Photochemically Deposited Fe-Co Oxides. Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 2022.

• Rodney D. L.
Smith, Rebecca S. Sherbo, Kevan D. Dettelbach, Curtis P. Berlinguette 
”On How Experimental Conditions Affect the Electrochemical Response of Disordered Nickel Oxyhydroxide Films” Chem. Mater., 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b01420.

• Rodney D. L. Smith, Curtis P. Berlinguette “Accounting for the Dynamic Oxidative Behavior of Nickel Anodes” 
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 1561-1567. 
• Rodney D. L. Smith, Barbora Sporinova, Randal D. Fagan, Simon Trudel, Curtis P. Berlinguette, 
 “Facile photochemical preparation of amorphous iridium-oxide films for water oxidation catalysis” Chem. Mater., 2014, 26, 1654-1659.
• Rodney D. L. Smith, Mathieu S. Prévot, Randal D. Fagan, Simon Trudel, Curtis P. Berlinguette “Water oxidation catalysis: electrocatalytic response to metal stoichiometry in amorphous 
metal oxide films containing iron, cobalt and nickel” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 11580-11586.
• Rodney D. L.
Smith, Mathieu S. Prévot, Randal D. Fagan, Zhipan Zhang, Pavel Sedach, Man K. J. Siu, Simon Trudel, Curtis P. Berlinguette “Photochemical route for accessing amorphous metal oxide materials for water oxidation catalysis”
 Science, 2013, 340, 60-63.

2012 PhD Electrochemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, NL

2007 BSc Honours Chemistry, University of Manitoba, MB