Electrochemical Research and Innovation in the Lone Star State

Texas has stood at the heart of electrochemical research and industrial innovation in the United States. From its early chlor-alkali and petrochemical electrochemical complexes to pioneering corrosion science and world-changing breakthroughs in lithium-ion batteries and energy storage, the Lone Star State has consistently defined the frontier of electrochemistry.

Research on corrosion and passivation at Texas A&M helped establish a modern understanding of metal–solution interfaces.¹ As leaders, industrial partners, and instrument manufacturers converged in Texas, they laid the foundation for robust academic and applied ecosystems that continue to flourish, spanning basic science, industrial scale-up, and instrumentation.

With Pittcon arriving in San Antonio, Texas, there is a unique opportunity to celebrate and renew that legacy. Pittcon’s technical program presents a session that will bring together innovative electrochemistry research from across the state, spanning fields such as energy and interfaces, instrument design, biosensors, and human health. Hence, demonstrating how electrochemistry remains a central science and a major driver of interdisciplinary innovation in the state of Texas.

Quantifying Photoredox Catalysis with Cyclic Voltammetry

A highlight of the session is an invited talk from Assistant Professor Dylan Boucher of Baylor University, titled “Quantifying Photoredox Catalysis with Cyclic Voltammetry.” This research reflects a growing movement to integrate electrochemical and photochemical methods, a trend accelerated by mechanistic studies describing how photoredox catalysts modulate electron-transfer kinetics in the photoredox manifold.²

Electro-photocatalysis (E-PC) is the co-localization of photons and electrons on a single reaction center, which has emerged as a powerful strategy for activating inert bonds. It enables transformations often inaccessible under purely thermal or photochemical conditions by combining light-induced excited states with electrochemically controlled redox events. Ultrafast spectroscopy has illuminated excited-state dynamics on the pico-to-nanosecond scale, but these timescales rarely map cleanly onto synthetic chemistry reactions that unfold over hours or days.

Image Credit: 63ru78/Shutterstock.com

Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) offers a cost-effective bridge between fast excited-state dynamics and practical reaction conditions. CV can probe redox potentials, excited-state energetics, and electron-transfer kinetics under conditions that approximate real reaction environments. Yet performing CV under illumination has historically been difficult, and the mechanistic interpretation of light-dependent voltammetry still lacks a well-defined molecular understanding.

Boucher presents a solution at Pittcon by using a model system and finite-element simulations to extract experimentally useful parameters, such as quantum yields and catalytic rates, directly from CV experiments. This approach builds on foundational analyses of electrocatalytic CV and extends them to the photochemical domain. The result is a framework for quantifying photoredox catalysis under experimentally realistic conditions and timescales, giving a deeper understanding of electrocatalytic control of redox reactions. Hence, this talk captures the spirit of Texas electrochemical innovation by demonstrating how rigorous fundamentals can be translated into practical applications, bridging the gap between molecular photochemistry and scalable catalysis.

Electrochemical Approaches to Decarbonizing Fuels and Chemicals

On a macro technological scale, the session features a symposium led by Associate Professor Haotian Wang of Rice University, titled “Electrochemical Approaches to Decarbonizing Fuels and Chemicals”. This theme reflects explosive growth in electrochemical CO₂ reduction research, which is one of the most intensely studied areas of modern.³

The electrochemical conversion of atmospheric molecules (CO2, O2, H2O, N2) into fuels and value-added chemicals offers a greener alternative to traditional electrochemical manufacturing. Instead of multistep, energy-intensive processes, electrochemistry uses electricity, ideally renewable, to drive transformations under milder conditions. Yet the field faces two major systemic challenges: catalyst limitations and reactor limitations.

Wang’s talk addresses both fronts. His group has developed catalysts and membrane-electrode assemblies capable of stable CO₂ reduction with minimized salt precipitation, a major barrier to scale-up. A recent milestone demonstrated that by humidifying CO₂ using a mild acid input stream, salt accumulation could be dramatically reduced, enabling thousands of hours of stable operation.⁴

Wang’s contributions exemplify how researchers are accelerating the path from fundamental electrocatalysis to practical decarbonization technologies. Pittcon plays a pivotal role in sustaining this momentum and reinforcing Texas’s position as a hotbed for electrochemical insight and innovation.

Pittcon 2026 in San Antonio, Texas

Together, these two talks capture the breadth of how Pittcon is a part of Texas’s contribution to electrochemistry, spanning molecular photoredox catalysis to industrially relevant CO₂ conversion. These topics intersect with ongoing research into interface characterization, nanostructured electrode materials, and continuous-flow electrochemical reactors. Recent advances in nanoscale electrocatalysts demonstrate how precision design at the atomic level translates into reactor-scale performance,5 a theme that resonates strongly across Texas electrochemistry research.

Both speakers emphasize the central challenge of bridging the gap between lab discovery and deployable technology. This can be achieved by either developing better analytical tools or building long-lived electrochemical reactors, which is a complex path from mechanism to manufacturing. Hence, this session at Pittcon addresses these challenges broadly.

As Pittcon gathers in San Antonio, the conference highlights Texas’s long-standing role as a hotbed of electrochemical insight and innovation. Assistant Professor Dylan Boucher’s framework for quantifying photoredox catalysis and Associate Professor Haotian Wang’s breakthroughs in CO₂-to-fuel electrolysis are notable examples of how research into electrochemistry continues to deepen fundamental knowledge while driving technologies with global impact.

Southwest Research Institute will also be exhibiting at Pittcon (Booth 1429), reinforcing the strong link between Texas’s academic institutions and its industrial partners. Hence, showcasing the shared commitment to advancing analytical instrumentation and practical applications.

References and Further Reading

1. Sill, T.E., et al. (2024). Mechanistic elucidation of the molecular weight dependence of corrosion inhibition afforded by polyetherimide coatings. npj Materials Degradation, 8(1). DOI: 10.1038/s41529-024-00516-z. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-024-00516-z.
2. Romero, N.A. and Nicewicz, D.A. (2016). Organic Photoredox Catalysis. Chemical Reviews, 116(17), pp.10075–10166. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00057. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00057.
3. Jouny, M., Luc, W. and Jiao, F. (2018). General Techno-Economic Analysis of CO₂ Electrolysis Systems. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 57(6), pp.2165–2177. DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.7b03514. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.iecr.7b03514.
4. Hao, S., et al. (2025). Acid-humidified CO₂ gas input for stable electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction. Science, (online) 388(6752). DOI: 10.1126/science.adr3834. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr3834.
5. Ghosh, M., et al. (2025). Next-generation CO₂ electroreduction: the role of atomically precise nanoclusters and emerging catalytic strategies. Nanoscale Horizons, 10(7), pp.1250–1267. DOI: 10.1039/d5nh00138b. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/nh/d5nh00138b.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Pittcon.

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