Bio

Anne Co earned her B.Sc. in Applied Chemistry (1999) and her Ph.D. in Chemistry (2005) from the University of Calgary, where she specialized in electrochemistry under the guidance of Viola Birss. Following her doctoral studies, she served as an NSERC Visiting Fellow and Research Associate at the National Research Council Canada (2005–2008). In 2008, she was awarded a Mary Fieser Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research with Professor Cynthia Friend at Harvard University. Professor Co joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University in 2010, where her research focuses on electrocatalysis for energy conversion and storage. 

Research Overview

Advanced Electrocatalytic Materials for Chemical Conversion and Energy Storage.

The primary focuses of our research effort is fundamental studies of electrochemical reactions, electrocatalyst function and the design of new materials for improving the efficiency of electrical storage and conversion devices such as batteries and fuel cells.  Our lab is multidisciplinary, combining electrochemical, analytical, materials and physical chemistry techniques.

Current research interests in the Co group:

• Understanding the electrochemical conversion pathways of CO2 and CO
• Understanding the mechanism and kinetics of phase transition and ion transport in energy storage materials
• Catalyst design for the efficient separation and speciation of tritiated compounds

Recent Publications

Zhihao Cui, Kassidy D. Aztergo, Jiseon Hwang, Anne C. Co, “Determining CO adsorption free energies on CO2 electroreduction active sites through kinetic analysis”, Nature Catalysis, (2025), 8, 1117-1127. DOI: 10.1038/s41929-025-01427-1

Zhihao Cui, Andrew Jark-Wah Wong, Michael J. Janik, Anne C. Co, “Negative Reaction Order for CO during CO2 Electroreduction on Au”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, (2024), 146, 34, 23872-23880. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c06232

Zhihao Cui, Melissa A. Marx, Modeste N. Tegomoh, Anne C. Co, “A Guide to Evaluate Electrolyte Purity for CO2 Reduction Studies”, ACS Energy Letters 8, (2023), 5201-5205. (https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c02343)