Materials & Catalysis
Catalyst design and surface analysis — XPS, in-situ DRIFTS.
Chan Kim
Chemical Engineer + Catalysis, Reactor Systems, Code, and Economics
A researcher who works across four axes
Reactors & Systems
Reactor design and build, high-pressure operation.
Code & Automation
Eight self-built tools that run the research.
Economics
Techno-economic assessment and levelized cost analysis — HDSAM.
Research
- Materials
- Systems
- Code
Photothermal NH₃ Decomposition
Designing and building the reactor system for plasmon-enhanced photothermal ammonia decomposition, from catalyst to control electronics. The one case where the tools and the research are the same story.
Read the case
- Systems
- Materials
- Economics
Sodium Borohydride Platform
A five-study arc on acid-mediated NaBH₄ hydrolysis, from on-board generation to a 500-bar, compressor-free charging system — first author, CEJ 2025. Publicly demonstrated at ADEX 2025.
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- Materials
Formic Acid / Formate Dehydrogenation
Operando pH tracking inside the reactor located the acid–formate ratio that maximizes H₂ output — co-first author, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2022.
Read the case
- Economics
LOHC & Hydrogen Economics
Techno-economic assessment of hydrogen refueling and compression, built on HDSAM — the same economics thinking that won grand prize at a national mobility idea contest.
Read the casePublications
2 first-author · 9 co-author- 2026Dependence of catalytic properties of strongly supported platinum clusters with atom countsScienceCo-author
How the catalytic behavior of supported platinum clusters changes atom by atom.
- 2025High-Pressure, Grid-Independent Hydrogen Generation via Chemical Hydride Hydrolysis: Demonstration and Deployment StrategiesChemical Engineering JournalFirst author
From lab bench to a working high-pressure, grid-independent hydrogen generator.
- 2025Promoter-guided reaction intermediate dynamics enhance perhydro-benzyltoluene dehydrogenationACS CatalysisCo-author
How promoter atoms steer reaction intermediates in LOHC dehydrogenation over Pt.
- 2022Strategy for Efficient H₂ Production from a Mixture of Formic Acid and Formate using Operando pH MeasurementsACS Sustainable Chemistry & EngineeringCo-first author
Real-time pH tracking inside the reactor located the acid–formate ratio that maximizes H₂ output.
Tools I built for the research
- get-ASAPGmail-to-Notion literature radar tracking 85+ journals across 7 publishers.View repoLive site
- paper-autodownAI pipeline that triages paper candidates, fetches subscription PDFs, and files them into Zotero and a knowledge graph.Private repository
- research-workbenchLocal MCP server that cross-checks research claims against a paper knowledge graph, with citations traced back to Zotero.Private repository
- lat-pipelineAutomated collection, classification, and analysis of lab experiment data, from data acquisition to Notion.Private repository
Hi there
I work on making hydrogen practical — chemical hydride systems, liquid organic carriers, and photothermal ammonia decomposition — at Seoul National University and KIST. Along the way I build the software that runs the research: pipelines that read the literature, file the papers, and analyze the data, so more of my time goes to the chemistry.
Now working on plasmon-enhanced photothermal ammonia decomposition. I’m completing my PhD and open to industry R&D roles in hydrogen, catalysis, and energy systems — and always happy to talk hydrogen, catalysis, or the tools that make research move faster. Reach me at [email protected] or [email protected], or find my papers on Google Scholar.
Analytical Toolkit
- XPSmain operator — CO-purification patent
- in-situ DRIFTSScience 2026, BN methane oxidation
- GC-FID / GC-TCDbattery cathode papers
- Plug-flow reactorsSBH high-pressure platform
- Operando pHACS Sus. Chem. Eng. 2022
- TEA (HDSAM)LOHC & hydrogen economics case
Experience & Education
- 2024 – nowPhD Candidate · Seoul National University (Jungwon Park Lab) × KIST
- 2023 – 2024Research Intern · KIST Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Research Center
- 2021 – 2023M.S., KHU-KIST Convergence Science & Technology · Kyung Hee University
- 2015 – 2021B.S., Chemistry · Kyung Hee University
11 publications (2 first-author) · 1 patent · 8 research tools · 3 awards
Email meDownload CV