Dr. Piotr Zelenay received Ph.D. and D.Sc. (“habilitation”) degrees in chemistry from the University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. He was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, the University of Warsaw from 1983 to 1997 when he accepted research position at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He is currently Los Alamos Laboratory Fellow concentrating in his research on fundamental and applied aspects of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) science and technology, electrocatalysis and electrode kinetics. His research at Los Alamos has focused on electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) oxidation in PEFCs.

Among Dr. Zelenay’s many accomplishments in the area of fuel cell electrocatalysis, especially worth mentioning are (i) leading role in the development of non-precious metal ORR catalysts worldwide; (ii) the discovery of ruthenium crossover in the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC; also found in other fuel cells operating with Ru-containing anodes, such as the reformate-air fuel cell); (iii) advancement of the direct DME fuel cell performance to the level that now matches that of the state-of-the-art DMFC. Dr. Piotr Zelenay has ca. 200 research publications to his credit, many in renowned scientific journals, including Nature, Science, Chemical Reviews, Accounts of Chemical Research, Angewandte Chemie, Energy & Environmental Science, and Advanced Materials. He has co-authored ca. 450 presentations, including ca. 200 invited, keynote, and plenary lectures.

Dr. Zelenay received numerous awards and recognitions. Among them, he was awarded R&D 100 Award (2017) for his electrocatalysis research; Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellowship “in recognition of sustained outstanding scientific contributions” (2016); National Professorship in Chemistry by the President of Poland (2015); Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellows Prize “for longstanding contributions to the understanding of non-precious metal electrocatalysts for fuel cells” (2015); Fellowship of the Electrochemical Society “for major contributions in the development of materials and concepts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells” (2014); Research Award of the Electrochemical Society Energy Technology Division “for fundamental and applied advances in polymer electrolyte fuel cell science and technology, electrocatalysis, and electrode kinetics” (2013); and DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Fuel Cell Technologies “for research on non-precious metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction” (2010).