Ezra Clark

About

Ezra Clark is an Early Career Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. His research focuses on energy and environment, interfaces and surfaces, materials and nanotechnology, separations and transport, and systems engineering. His specific interest areas include heterogeneous electrocatalysis, electrochemical reaction mechanisms and kinetics, electrochemical surface science, organic electrosynthesis, carbon dioxide utilization, electronic structure engineering of intermetallic electrocatalysis, operando electrochemical spectroscopy, and electrochemical mass spectrometry. Dr. Clark earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville in 2012 and completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 2018. His work involves advancing understanding and development of electrochemical processes related to energy conversion and environmental sustainability, with a particular emphasis on electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide and related catalytic systems.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Composite material
• Physical chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Chromatography
• Photochemistry
• Thermodynamics

Selected publications

• A Versatile Electrochemical Cell for <i>Operando</i> XAS

  ChemCatChem · 2024-04-03 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract In situ and operando X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) provides fundamental insight into the working principles of electrocatalysts and is an important tool for future catalyst development. However, the design of an operando XAS electrocatalytic cell is not facile, and researchers designing cells, whether new cells or modifications to previous cells, often spend many hours on cell design before obtaining high‐quality XAS data. Here, we describe the design, with engineering drawings, a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigating the Origins of the pH-Dependent Oxidation of Glycerol over Platinum Using Differential Electrochemical Mass Spectrometry

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry C · 2024-06-25 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) to give CO2 could be harnessed to produce energy in a direct glycerol fuel cell. However, state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for this reaction exhibit poor voltage and current efficiency. Thus, there is a need to develop superior electrocatalysts for this process. However, rational electrocatalyst design is difficult due to the complicated reaction mechanism, which is poorly understood. In the present study, differential electrochemical mass spectrometry is u…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cation Incorporation into Copper Oxide Lattice at Highly Oxidizing Potentials

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2023-09-27 · 7 citations

  article

  Electrolyte cations can have significant effects on the kinetics and selectivity of electrocatalytic reactions. We show an atypical mechanism through which electrolyte cations can impact electrocatalyst performance─direct incorporation of the cation into the oxide electrocatalyst lattice. We investigate the transformations of copper electrodes in alkaline electrochemistry through operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy in KOH and Ba(OH)2 electrolytes. In KOH electrolytes, both the near-edge struc…

  PublisherDOI

• Elucidating the Origins of Electrocatalytic Phenomena Using Steady State Isotopic Transient Kinetic Analysis

  ACS Catalysis · 2026-03-19 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Intrinsic electrocatalytic activity is the ratio between the steady state coverage of reaction intermediates and their surface lifetimes. Thus, electrocatalytic activity is promoted by either increasing the steady state coverage of reaction intermediates, reducing their surface lifetimes, or some combination of both. Unfortunately, there is a lack of techniques for measuring these parameters. This manuscript demonstrates that these parameters can be quantified simultaneously by performing steady…

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing carbon utilization

  Nature Energy · 2023-02-14 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Alexis T. Bell

  188 shared

• Joaquin Resasco

  60 shared

• Stefan Ringe

  54 shared

• Amber Walton

  University of Minnesota

  43 shared

• Thomas F. Jaramillo

  37 shared

• Christopher Hahn

  36 shared

• Karen Chan

  Technical University of Denmark

  36 shared

• Youngkook Kwon

  Korea University of Science and Technology

  30 shared

Labs

• Ezra Clark LabPI

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  University of California Berkeley

  2018

• Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering

  University of Louisville

  2012

Awards & honors

• Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award
• Early Career Alumni Recognition Award
• Alumni Achievement Award
• Alumni Fellow Award

Similar researchers at Pennsylvania State University

• Seong Kimh-66
• Michael Janikh-64
• Enrique Gomezh-50