Yushan Yan

Henry Belin du Pont Chair of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Director, Center for Clean Hydrogen

Education

• Doctorate – 1997 California Institute of Technology
• Masters – 1995 California Institute of Technology
• Bachelors – 1988 University of Science and Technology of China

About Yushan Yan

Yushan Yan is the Henry B. du Pont Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Founding Director of the Center for Clean Hydrogen (CCH) at the University of Delaware (UD). CCH is a partnership of UD, Chemours, Plug Power, West Virginia University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

He is also the Founder and CEO of Versogen, a pioneer and leader in anion exchange membranes (AEMs), and a Cofounder of RepAir, an electrochemical carbon capture technology company.

His research is in the area of electrochemical engineering with a focus on hydrogen, fuel cells, and carbon capture using polymer AEMs, or his preferred term, hydroxide exchange membranes (HEMs).

His recognitions include being a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science.

He received his BS in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

His other major honors include:

The R. H. Wilhelm Award for Chemical Reaction Engineering, the Braskem Award for Excellence in Materials Science and Engineering, and the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The Carl Wagner Memorial Award and the Energy Technology Division Research Award from the Electrochemical Society.

The Donald Breck Award from the International Zeolite Association.

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Electrochemical Society.

Select Publications 

For a complete listing of publications, please view the Full CV.

1. Gu, S.; Xu, B.; Yan, Y.: Electrochemical Energy Engineering: A New Frontier of Chemical Engineering Innovation. In Annu Rev Chem Biomol; Prausnitz, J. M., Doherty, M. F., Segalman, R. A., Eds.; Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2014; Vol. 5; pp 429-454.
2. Abbasi, R.; Setzler, B. P.; Lin, S.; Wang, J.; Zhao, Y.; Xu, H.; Pivovar, B.; Tian, B.; Chen, X.; Wu, G.; Yan, Y. A Roadmap to Low-Cost Hydrogen with Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers. Advanced Materials 2019, 31.
3. Wang, J.; Zhao, Y.; Setzler, B. P.; Rojas-Carbonell, S.; Ben Yehuda, C.; Amel, A.; Page, M.; Wang, L.; Hu, K.; Shi, L.; Gottesfeld, S.; Xu, B.; Yan, Y. Poly(aryl piperidinium) membranes and ionomers for hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells. Nature Energy 2019, 4, 392-398.
4. Setzler, B. P.; Zhuang, Z.; Wittkopf, J. A.; Yan, Y. Activity targets for nanostructured platinum group-metal-free catalysts in hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells. Nature Nanotechnology 2016, 11, 1020-1025.
5. Sheng, W.; Zhuang, Z.; Gao, M.; Zheng, J.; Chen, J. G.; Yan, Y. Correlating hydrogen oxidation and evolution activity on platinum at different pH with measured hydrogen binding energy. Nature Communications 2015, 6.
6. Zheng, J.; Sheng, W.; Zhuang, Z.; Xu, B.; Yan, Y. Universal dependence of hydrogen oxidation and evolution reaction activity of platinum-group metals on pH and hydrogen binding energy. Science Advances 2016, 2.
7. Zhuang, Z.; Giles, S. A.; Zheng, J.; Jenness, G. R.; Caratzoulas, S.; Vlachos, D. G.; Yan, Y. Nickel supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst in alkaline electrolyte. Nature Communications 2016, 7.
8. Gao, M.; Sheng, W.; Zhuang, Z.; Fang, Q.; Gu, S.; Jiang, J.; Yan, Y. Efficient Water Oxidation Using Nanostructured alpha-Nickel-Hydroxide as an Electrocatalyst. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014, 136, 7077-7084.
9. Wang, T.; Shi, L.; Wang, J.; Zhao, Y.; Setzler, B. P.; Rojas-Carbonell, S.; Yan, Y. High-Performance Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells through Optimization of Relative Humidity, Backpressure and Catalyst Selection. Journal of the Electrochemical Society 2019, 166, F3305-F3310.
10. Guan, X.; Li, H.; Ma, Y.; Xue, M.; Fang, Q.; Yan, Y.; Valtchev, V.; Qiu, S. Chemically stable polyarylether-based covalent organic frameworks. Nat Chem 2019, 11, 587-594.

Patents 

1. Extended two dimensional metal nanotubes and nanowires useful as fuel cell catalysts and fuel cells containing the same (9,680,160): S. Alia, 2017
2. Multiple-membrane multiple-electrolyte redox flow battery design (9,640,826): S. Gu, K. Gong, 2017
3. Electrolysis device for chlorine production (9,273,405): Y. Zhao, 2016
4. Highly basic ionomers and membranes and anion/hydroxide exchange fuel cells comprising the ionomers and membranes (9,263,757): S. Gu, R. Cai, 2016
5. Polymer-zeolite nanocomposite membranes for proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (8,324,415): B. Holmberg, X. Wang, 2012
6. Carbon based electrocatalysts for fuel cells (8,247,136): X. Wang, W. Li, M. Waje, Z. Chen, W. Goddard, W.Q. Deng, 2012
7. High aluminum zeolite coatings on corrodible metal surfaces (7,179,547): D. Beving, 2007
8. Silica zeolite low-k dielectric thin films and methods for their production (6,573,131): H. Wang, Z. Wang, 2003
9. Metal surfaces coated with molecular sieve for corrosion resistance (6,521,198): X. Cheng, Z. Wang, 2003
10. Hydrophilic zeolite coating (6,500,490): , 2002

Awards

For a complete listing of awards, please view the Full CV.

1. 2023 Parr Lecturer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign<.li>
2. 2022 National Academy of Engineering
3. 2021 Carl Wagner Memorial Award, The Electrochemical Society
4. 2021 R. H. Wilhelm Award for Chemical Reaction Engineering, AIChE
5. 2019-2025 Highly Cited Researchers, Web of Science
6. 2019 Fellow of the Electrochemical Society
7. 2019 Braskem Award for Excellence in Materials Science and Engineering, AIChE
8. 2018 Fellow of National Academy of Inventors
9. 2018 Energy Technology Division Research Award, The Electrochemical Society
10. 2016 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Award, AIChE

Research Areas

Electrochemical energy engineering; Energy conversion and storage; fuel cells; electrolyzers; flow batteries; electrochemistry; electrocatalysis; polymer electrolytes; electrochemical interfaces; zeolites and covalent organic frameworks.