Humboldt Fellowship supports research on fuel cell catalysts from recycled metals

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awards Miran Joo

At a glance

• Award: Humboldt Research Fellowship for Dr Miran Joo, postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials.
• Research topic: Developing sustainable catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells using recycled metals.
• Approach: Designing compositionally complex solid solutions from secondary feedstocks and studying their structure with electron microscopy.
• Relevance: Reducing the reliance on scarce critical raw materials while improving the durability of fuel cell catalysts.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded Dr Miran Joo, postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat), a Humboldt Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides her a research stay of two years at MPI-SusMat, where she will continue her work on advancing hydrogen fuel cell catalysts.

Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity without producing carbon dioxide during operation and are considered a key technology for a climate-neutral energy system. However, their widespread use is limited by the high cost and limited lifetime of the catalysts they rely on. Joo aims to develop catalysts made from recycled materials that could make hydrogen fuel cells more affordable and durable.

Advancing fuel cell catalysts with recycled materials

“I’m honoured and grateful for receiving this fellowship! Here at MPI, I will focus on using recycled metallic feedstocks and industrial scrap to design compositionally complex solid solution electrocatalysts for more efficient and more sustainable fuel cells”, says Joo.

Today's commercial catalysts rely heavily on platinum, a rare and expensive precious metal. These catalysts often degrade over time as some of their components dissolve during operation. Compositionally complex solid solutions contain multiple principal elements, creating a wide variety of surface atom arrangements that have the potential to improve catalytic performance while increasing stability. Instead of producing these materials from high-purity raw materials, Joo will investigate whether they can be manufactured from recycled metallic feedstocks and industrial scrap. This approach could significantly reduce both the environmental footprint and the cost of catalyst production.

Understanding materials atom by atom

A key objective of the fellowship is to understand why some catalysts remain stable while others gradually lose their activity.

To answer this question, Joo will use state-of-the-art (scanning) transmission electron microscopy to visualise the atomic arrangement of materials and observe how tiny structural changes influence catalytic performance. In addition, her fellowship research will focus on characterizing the structure and chemistry of defects that inevitably form in these materials using advanced electron microscopy. The project will also investigate the role of light elements such as boron, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, which are often naturally present in recycled feedstocks. Rather than treating these elements as impurities, the research aims to determine whether they can improve the stability of the catalysts during long-term operation.

About the researcher and the fellowship

Dr. Miran Joo completed her PhD at Yonsei University in South Korea. Her doctoral research focused on designing aluminum-based materials with interstitial defects to enhance mechanical properties. She joined MPI-SusMat in October 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher.

The Humboldt Foundation fosters academic collaboration between exceptional international scientists and researchers in Germany. Its fellowships are awarded to individuals with outstanding qualifications and distinctive research profiles. The freedom for recipients to select any host institution in Germany makes this award a significant honour for both, the researcher and the hosting institute.