Full Name

Yedilfana Setarge Mekonnen (PhD)                                                      

Education attended

• PhD in Energy Conversion and Storage Technologies from   Technical University of Denmark in 2015
• MSc In Physical Chemistry from Addis Ababa University in 2011
• BSc in Applied Chemistry from Ambo University in 2008
•  Diploma in Chemistry Laboratory Technician from Ambo University in 2004.
• Higher Diploma Program award in Teacher Education from Addis Ababa University.
• Visiting Researcher at Stanford University SLAC National Accelerator Laboratories, San Francisco, California, USA, 2014.
• Visiting Researcher at Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Shanghai, China, 2019.
• Junior Associate Member of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, January 2020- December 2025

Academic rank and work experiance

• Associate Professor at AAU, November 26, 2020, till present
• Assistant Professor at AAU, August 10, 2016 to November 25, 2020
• PhD study, Denmark Technical University, August 9, 2012 – December 2, 2015
• Lecture at Ambo University July 21, 2011 to August 8, 2012

Supervisory duties

• Advised and co-advised more than 17 MSc students
• Advised and co-advised more than 5 PhD students
• Examined more than 15 MSc thesis works

Administrative positions held

• 2021-2023: Project Leader (PI); Addis Ababa University thematic research project grant “Computational and experimental design of materials for emerging energy storage and conversion devices. From fundamental to applications.
• 2019-2021: Project Leader (PI); TWAS 2019 research grant on emerging energy storage and conversion materials.
• 2016-2019: Coordinator; PhD program coordinator of the Center for Environmental Science, Addis Ababa University.
• 2016-2019: Project Leader (PI); Addis Ababa University thematic research project grant on renewable energy systems for sustainable future.
• 2017-2020: co-project leader (co-PI); Two thematic research projects.
• Member of Curriculum Review Committee (2017-2019): Center for Environmental Science, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University.

Awards and Recognition’s

• Awarded the Addis Ababa University thematic research project grant. The project entitled “Emerging energy storage and conversion technologies. From fundamentals to Applications”. For the period of January 2021 to June 2023.
• Awarded the 2021 Abdu Salam ICTP scientific meeting award.
• Awarded the 2021 Psi-K meeting funding for the workshop/school on electronic structure methods from fundamentals to applications on energy storage and conversion technologies.
• Awarded the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) 2019 Research Grants for the project entitled “Emerging electrochemical energy storage and conversion technologies”. Trieste, Italy: Dec 2019 to Dec 2021.
• Awarded Junior Associate Membership of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy: Jan 2020 to Dec 2025.
• Awarded Addis Ababa University Thematic research award 2016-2019 as PI of the project entitled “Renewable Energy Systems for Sustainable Future: Advanced energy storage and conversion systems”.
• Awarded a PhD fellowship grant at Technical University of Denmark, Risø, Denmark, to work on the ReLiable project, funded by the Danish Strategic Research Council: Aug 2012 to Dec 2015.

Memberships

• Chemical Society of Ethiopia since 2003
• Computational Sciences and Engineering Society of Ethiopia (President

Address

Addis Ababa University,

College of Natural and Computational Sciences,

Center for Environmental Science, P. O. Box 1176.

Graduate building 6th floor, room number # 614.

Office Tel: +251-11-6551910, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mobile: +251-96-6719409

E-mail:yedilfana.setarge@aau.edu.et, fanachem2008@gmail.com

Research interest

• Emerging energy conversion and storage technologies including advanced rechargeable batteries (Lithium-ion and Metal-Air), Fuel cells, Solar cells, mainly a density functional theory (DFT) study.
• Photo-catalysis for water splitting.
• CO2 reduction reaction studies on heterogeneous catalysts.
• Charge transport studies (ion, polaron and electron) in crystals.
• Reaction mechanism (charge-discharge) studies in batteries.
• Biodiesel production from different feed stocks using various catalysts.

Publications on reputable journals

• Asnake, Haile; Heine, Hansen; Weldegebriel, Yohannes; Yedilfana, Mekonnen, Pyridinic Type N-doped Graphene on Cobalt Substrate as Efficient Electrocatalyst for ORR in Acidic Solution in Fuel Cell”. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2021, 12, 3552-3559. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c00198
• Gamachis S Gurmesa, Natei E Benti, Mesfin D Chaka, Girum A Tiruye, Qinfang Zhang, Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Chernet A Geffe, Fast 3D-lithium-ion diffusion and high electronic conductivity of Li2MnSiO4 surfaces for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, RSC Advances, 2021, 11, 9721. DOI: 10.1039/d1ra00642h.
• Asnake S Haile, Weldegebriel Yohannis and Yedilfana S Mekonnen “Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Pt-skin Pt3V(111) Fuel Cell Cathode: A density functional theory study” RSC Advances, 2020, 10(46), 27346–27356. DOI: 10.1039/d0ra02972f.
• Natei E Benti, Yedilfana S Mekonnen and Girum A Tiruye “Boron and Pyridinic Nitrogen Doped Graphene as Potential Catalysts for Rechargeable Non-Aqueous SodiumAir Battery”. RSC Advances, 2020,10(36), 21387–21398. DOI: 10.1039/d0ra03126g.
• Natei E Benti, Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Rune Christensen, Girum A Tiruye, Juan María García-Lastr and Tejs Vegge. The effect of CO2 Contamination in Rechargeable Non-aqeous Sodium-Air batteries, Journal of Chemical Physics, 2020,152(8), 74711. doi.org/10.1063/1.5141931.
• Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Rune Christensen, Juan María García-Lastr and Tejs Vegge (2018). Thermodynamic and Kinetic Limitations for Peroxide and Superoxide Formation in Na–O2 Batteries, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2018, 9(15), 4413-4419. doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b01790.
• Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Juan María García-Lastr, Jens S. Hummelshøj, Chengjun Jin and Tejs Vegge (2015). Role of Li2O2@Li2CO3 Interfaces on Charge Transport in Nonaqueous Li−Air Batteries, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2015, 119, 32, 18066-18073. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b04432.
• Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Kristian B. Knudsen, Jon S. G. Myrdal, Reza Younesi, Jonathan Hojberg, Johan Hjelm, Poul Norby and Tejs Vegge (2014). Communication: The influence of CO2 poisoning on overvoltages and discharge capacity in non-aqueous Li-Air batteries, J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140, 121101 + Journal Cover Page. 10.1063/1.4869212
• Yeshimebet S Erchamo, Tadios T Mamo, Getachew A Workneh, Yedilfana S Mekonnen, Improved biodiesel production from waste cooking oil with mixed methanol–ethanol using enhanced eggshell-derived CaO nano-catalyst. Scientific Reports, 2021, 11, Article number: 6708. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86062-z.
• Tadesse A Degifie, Tadios T Mamo, Yedilfana S Mekonnen. Optimized biodiesel production from waste cooking oil (WCO) using Calcium Oxide (CaO) Nano-catalyst. Scientific Reports, 2019, 9, 18982 (1-8). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55403-4.
• Tadios T Mamo, Yedilfana S Mekonnen. Microwave assisted biodiesel production from microalgae, Scenedesmus species, using goat bone made nanocatalyst. Journal of Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 2020, 190(4), 1147-1162. doi.org/10.1007/s12010-019-03149-0.
• Dawit A Beshah, Girum A Tiruye and Yedilfana S Mekonnen. Characterization and recycling of textile sludge for energy-efficient brick production in Ethiopia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research Journal, 2021, 28, 16272-16281.doi.org/10.100/s11356-020-11878-7.
• Yordanos Kiros G. Tsadik, Abrha Mulu Hailu, Seyoum L Asfaw, and Yedilfana S Mekonnen. The effect of brewery sludge biochar on immobilization of bio-available cadmium and growth of Brassica carinata. Heliyon, 2020, 6, e05573. doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05573