Christopher Chidsey

Christopher Chidsey is an Associate Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. Born in 1957, he received an A.B. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University in 1983, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in electrochemistry at the University of North Carolina. From 1984 to 1992, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, contributing to research on long-distance electron transfer across interfaces, scanning tunneling microscopy, nonlinear optical materials, and optical materials processing. He joined Stanford as Associate Professor of Chemistry in 1992, was appointed Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy in 2009, and held courtesy appointments as Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering (2008-2011) and in the Department of Photon Science at SLAC (1997-2010).

Professor Chidsey's research interests center on electrochemistry and electrocatalysis, as well as building the chemical base for molecular electronics. His work examines the role of chemical bonding in long-distance electron tunneling across interfaces, develops silicon and germanium surface chemistry including self-assembly of complex molecular monolayers, and advances molecular systems and theoretical approaches for understanding electron transfer with applications in sustainable battery technology, fuel chemistry, biochemical analysis, water oxidation photoelectrolysis, fuel cells, and CO2 reduction. Key achievements include atomic layer deposition of TiO2 to protect semiconductors for water splitting and covalent electrocatalyst attachment to carbon electrodes. Representative publications include "Bromomethylation of high-surface area carbons as a versatile synthon: adjusting the electrode-electrolyte interface in lithium-sulfur batteries" (Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2019), "Mapping free energy regimes in electrocatalytic reductions to screen transition metal-based catalysts" (Chemical Science, 2019), "Free energy and temperature dependence of electron transfer at the metal-electrolyte interface" (Science, 1991), and "Spontaneously organized molecular assemblies. 4. Structural characterization of n-alkyl thiol monolayers on gold by optical ellipsometry, infrared spectroscopy, and electrochemistry" (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1991). He has received the National Science Foundation Fellowship (1978-1981), Fanny and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship (1982-1983), Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1993), Stanford Bing Fellowship (1995), and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007).

Professional Email: chidsey@stanford.edu