Kenneth Ikechukwu Ozoemena

Kenneth Ikechukwu Ozoemena is a Nigerian physical chemist, materials scientist, and academic. He is a research professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg where he Heads the South African SARChI Chair in Materials Electrochemistry and Energy Technologies (MEET), supported by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), National Research Foundation (NRF) and Wits.

Ozoemena group conducts interdisciplinary research across physics, chemistry, biomedical, chemical, and metallurgical engineering. 11 book chapters, and edited books, including Nanomaterials for Fuel Cell Catalysis, and Nanomaterials in Advanced Batteries and Supercapacitors.

Ozoemena became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2011, Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (FAAS) in 2015, and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in 2016. He serves as an associate editor for Electrocatalysis and co-Editor-in-Chief of Electrochemistry Communications.

Early life and education He is an indigene of Obinikpa Umuokpara, Okohia in Umuna, Onuimo local government area of Imo State, Nigeria. Ozoemena earned his baccalaureate degree in industrial chemistry from the University of Abia in 1992 and went on to receive master's degrees in chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry in 1997 and 1998, respectively, from the University of Lagos. In 2003, he completed his Ph.D. at Rhodes University in South Africa and served as a research fellow at the University of Pretoria. He serves as an Honorary Visiting professor at the Wuhan University of Technology, China.

Ozoemena was elected African representative of the International Society of Electrochemistry from 2010 to 2015 and chair of the Scientific Meeting Committee (SMC) of the International Society of Electrochemistry. He was the chair of the Organising Committee of the 70th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) Durban, the first conference of the ISE on the African continent. Subsequently, he served as the lead guest editor of the special issue of the conference in Electrochimica Acta.

Research Ozoemena has focused his research in the field of materials electrochemistry, with a specific interest in advanced batteries, fuel cells, and electrochemical sensors as the primary aspects of investigation.

Lithium-ion batteries Ozoemena has worked on improving the structural and electrochemical properties of lithium-ion batteries. One of his innovations include the use of microwave-assisted synthesis to mitigate the problems of manganese dissolution and the so-called Jahn-Teller distortion which conspire against the development and commercialization of high-energy and low-cost manganese-based cathode materials.

Aqueous mobile ion batteries and supercapacitors Ozoemena's enquiry on the microwave-assisted synthesis and use of low cost and environmentally friendly manganese-based raw materials has led to the discovery of a new strategy of making triplite manganese fluorophosphate. In addition, Ozoemena group has demonstrated that nanostructured manganese-based complexes are promising materials for the development of high-performance supercapacitors and pseudocapacitors.

Fuel cells and electrolyzers Ozoemena worked on the use of microwave-assisted synthesis to bring about 'top-down' nanosizing of palladium catalysts, introducing the term "MITNAD" which is an acronym for "microwave-induced top-down nanostructuring and decoration". He has continued to explore the application of this technique and related techniques for the development of high-performance electrocatalysts for fuel cells and electrolyzers.

Zinc-ion and rechargeable zinc-air batteries Ozoemena and collaborators have studied several electrode materials that can enhance the efficacy of zinc-ion and rechargeable zinc-air batteries (RZAB). The key research focus in this field has been to develop real and relevant RZAB technology for stationary and mobile applications.

Electrochemical sensors Ozoemena has contributed in connecting biomedicine with electrochemistry, resulting in the creation of electrochemical bio- and immuno-sensors capable of detecting diseases that are mostly found in resource-limited countries, including tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients, vibrio cholera toxins in water bodies, substance abuse such as tramadol, and human papillomavirus (HPV) biomarkers for cervical cancer.

Awards and honors 2003-2013 – World's top 1% of Scientists within Chemistry, Thomson Reuters' ISI Essential Science Indicators 2008 – Chartered Chemist (CChem), Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 – Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry 2014 – The CEO's Award, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) 2014 – Listed as #2 amongst the "Twenty most productive South African authors of energy papers (2000–2011)", Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). 2015 – Elected Fellow, African Academy of Sciences 2016 – Elected member, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) 2016 – Innovation Award, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) 2019 – World Top 2% Scientists, Stanford University, PLoS Biology 2020 – World Top 2% Scientists, PLoS Biology 2021 – SARChI Chair (Tier 1), DSI-NRF-Wits 2023 – 'A'-rated Scientist, National Research Foundation (NRF) 2023 - Vice President (Southern Africa) and member of the governing council of the African Academy of Sciences