Rodney Smith

Assistant Professor

Rodney Smith’s research involves the study of electrocatalysts for use in sustainable energy storage systems. His research examines the chemistry of electrode surfaces, measures electron transfer kinetics and probes electrochemical reaction dynamics in an effort to guide the design and fabrication of solid-state electrocatalysts.

Contact information
Office: ESC 332
Phone: 519-888-4567 x38388
Email: rodsmith@uwaterloo.ca
Website: Rodney Smith

Expertise

Inorganic materials
Electrocatalysis
Reaction dynamics
Reaction kinetics
Energy storage

Research

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 CO₂reduction. The research is interdisciplinary in nature, involving materials synthesis and a diverse selection of spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques.

Highlighted Publications

Identifying protons trapped in hematite photoanodes through structure–property analysis. Liu, Y.; Smith, R. D. L. Chem. Sci., 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C9SC04853G.
Electrochemically Induced Phase Changes in La2CuO4 During Cathodic Electrocatalysis. Whittingham, A. W. H.; Smith, R. D. L., ChemElectroChem, 2019, 6, 5116-5123.
Probing the Role of Internalized Geometric Strain on Heterogeneous Electrocatalysis. Alsac, E. P.; Whittingham, A.; Liu, Y.; Smith, R. D. L., Chem. Mater., 2019, 31, 7522-7530.
Evidence of Variations in Atomic Distribution in Disordered Mixed Metal Hydroxides. Rong, W.; Stepan, S.; Smith, R. D. L., MRS Advances, 2019, 4, 1843-1850.
Structural and functional role of anions in electrochemical water oxidation probed by arsenate incorporation into cobalt-oxide materials. Villalobos, J.; Gonzalez-Flores, D.; Klingan, K.; Chernev, P.; Kubella, P.;Urcuyo, R.; Pasquini, C.; Mohammadi, M. R.; Smith, R. D. L.; Montero, M. L.; Dau, H., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 12485-12493.
H/D isotope effects reveal factors controlling catalytic activity in Co-based oxides for water oxidation. Pasquini, C.; Zaharieva, I.; Gonzalez-Flores, D.; Chernev, P.; Mohammadi, M. R.; Guidoni, L.; Smith, R. D. L.; Dau, H., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 2938-2948.
Trapping a Photoelectron behind a Repulsive Coulomb Barrier in Solution. Cheng, M.; Rivas, N.; Lim, S. J.; Pichugin, K.; Petruk, A. A.; Klinkova, A.; Smith, R. D. L.; Hopkins, W. S.; Sciaini, G., J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2019, 10, 5742-5747.