신재호 (Samuel Jaeho Shin), Ph.D.
선임연구원 (Senior Research Scientist)
CO2 & Energy Research Center
Chemical Process Research Division
Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Phone:
+82-(0)42-860-7552
Email:
SNS:
Research Area:
Electrochemistry, Energy/Chemical Conversion, Organic Electrochemistry, Analytical Electrochemistry
Research
My research program addresses global challenges of energy and environment by leveraging fundamental electrochemistry, which utilizes electricity as a renewable source, to drive reactions including useful energy/chemical conversions. Below are the list of on-going/to-be-initiated projects:
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Organic Electrosynthesis
Organic electrosynthesis is a recently growing field which aims to enable economic and sustainable synthesis by replacing harsh chemicals, e.g., oxidants/reductants, acids, with electrons. My research program aims to rationally design electrochemical organic reactions aligned to the research direction at our center, which includes organic electrosynthesis from CO2-derived chemicals to value-added products and electrochemical organic oxidation reactions as an anode reactions coupled to CO2 reduction cathode to develop full cell electrolyzer, achieving energy-efficient processes with high-value products.
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Electrochemical (De)hydrogenation Reactions
Hydrogen is one of the most basic element to constitute chemical compounds and related bond cleavage/formation has gained great attention with the recent advances in hydrogen technology. Aligned to the LOHC technology at our research center, we aim to develop (de)hydrogenation reactions driven by electricity. Our current approaches are to utilize molecular electrocatalysis and electrolytic palladium membrane reactor to rationally design new reactivity and efficient electrochemical (de)hydrogenation reactions.
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Development of (in situ) Electroanalytical Methods
To rationally design electrochemical reactions including our group research interest, the understanding of their mechanism is the utmost importance. We aim to leverage not only fundamental electroanalytical techniques but also advanced techniques including spectroelectrochemistry, a combination of reaction-oriented electrochemistry and chemical information-oriented spectroscopy, enabling real-time operando/in situ studies.
We are actively recruiting students/researchers who are devoted to participate on the above research projects. Please reach out to Samuel for such opportunity.
Biography
Samuel was born in Texas and raised in South Korea. He graduated Sogang University with B.S. in Chemistry (Summa Cum Laude) in 2011. He also spent a year during his undergraduate at University of Texas at Austin working with Prof. Adam Heller to develop an electroosmotic pump for drug infusion systems. He joined graduate program at Seoul National University and first worked on the synthesis and application of semiconductor nanocrystals with Prof. Jin-Kyu Lee before joining Prof. Taek Dong Chung in 2015. In the Chung group, he sought fundamentals of electrochemistry and electrochemical reactions feasible on silicon oxide dielectric layer mediated by (supposedly) hydrogen atoms. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2020 and continued his first postdoc in the same group until 2022 to work on designing electroanalytical methods complementary for organic electrosynthesis. Then, he moved to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his second postdoc in the groups of Profs. Jillian L. Dempsey, Alexander J. M. Miller, and Frank A. Leibfarth and performed research of (photo)electrochemical conversions of CO2 in both fundamental aspects and laboratory automations using AI/robotics (DOE-CHASE and Creativity Hubs projects, respectively). In 2024, he has started his independent career at the CO2 & Energy Research Center (KRICT) to address global challenges of energy and environment by solving the problems involving electrochemistry: electrochemical CO2 conversion, organic electrosynthesis, electrochemical LOHC, and (in situ) electroanalytical methods.
Professional Experience
2024 - Present
Senior Research Scientist, CO2 & Energy Research Center, Chemical Process Research Division, KRICT
2022 - 2024
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Principal investigators: Profs. Jillian L. Dempsey, Alexander J. M. Miller, Frank A. Leibfarth
2021 - 2022
Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Electron Transfer, Seoul National University
Principal investigator: Prof. Taek Dong Chung
2020 - 2021
Postdoctoral Researcher, The Research Institute of Basic Science & Science Research Center, Seoul National University
Principal investigator: Prof. Taek Dong Chung
2009 - 2010
Visiting Undergraduate Researcher, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
Advisor: Prof. Adam Heller
Education
2015 - 2020
Ph.D. Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University
Advisor: Prof. Taek Dong Chung
Dissertation: Cathodic Electroorganic Reaction of Anthracene and Metal Thin Film Electrodeposition for Hydrogen Gas Sensor Based on Electrochemistry at Thermally Grown Silicon Oxide
2011 - 2015
Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University
Advisor: Prof. Jin-Kyu Lee
2007 - 2011
B.S. Chemistry (Summa Cum Laude), Department of Chemistry, Sogang University
Advisor: Prof. Bongjin Moon
Selected Publications
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Shin, S. J., Park, S., Lee, J. -Y., Lee, J. G., Yun, J., Hwang, D. -W., & Chung T. D.* Cathodic electroorganic reaction on silicon oxide dielectric electrode. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 32939-32946 (2020).
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Shin, S. J. , Kim, J. Y. , An, S., Kim, M., Seo, M., Go, S. Y., Chung, H., Lee, M., Kim, M. -G., Lee, H. G., & Chung T. D.* Revisiting thin-layer electrochemistry in a chip-type cell for the study of electro-organic reactions. Anal. Chem. 94, 1248-1255 (2022).
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Shin, S. J. * & He, S. * Go with the flow for high-throughput electrochemistry. Nat. Rev. Chem. 9, 7 (2025).
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Awards, Honors, and Grants
2024
Travel Grant Award, Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division, ECS PRiME
2016
Best Poster Prize, 67th Annual Meeting of ISE
2013
Cheong-Am Science Fellowship, TJ Park Foundation (POSCO)
2011
Summa Cum Laude, Sogang University
2011
Dean's List, Sogang University
2011
Top 1% Natural Science Academic Achievement Prize, Sogang University
2008
Kwanjeong Scholarship, Kwanjeong Educational Foundation