Thomas Schmidt

Biography

In February 2011, Professor Thomas J. Schmidt became Chair of Electrochemistry at ETH Zurich, combined with the appointment as Head of the Electrochemistry Laboratory at Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. Since 2014 Prof. Schmidt is also Director of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER) Heat & Electricity Storage. He received his University Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Ulm/Germany in 1996 and his PhD in Chemistry from the same University in 2000. That same year he joined the group of P.N. Ross and N.M. Markovic at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a Chemist Postdoctoral Fellow. During this period, he intensively studied the fundamentals of electrocatalysis of fuel cell reactions. He continued to work with G.G. Scherer at Paul Scherrer Institut in Villigen/Switzerland on the development of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) using radiation-grafted membranes and on oxygen electrocatalysis with oxide containing catalysts. Since fall 2002, he was working in the industrial development of high temperature membrane electrode assemblies and its components (membranes, catalysts, electrodes) using polybenzimidazole based membranes at BASF Fuel Cell GmbH (formerly Pemeas GmbH).

Research Interest

Fundamentals of electrocatalysis of fuel cell reactions.