[12] Shao-Horn left Energizer in 2000 and obtained an NSF International Research Fellowship to work with Claude Delmas at the Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry[13] in Bordeaux, France.
She is known for the use of surface electronic structure features and/or solvation environments to develop universal design principles of materials and electrode/electrolyte interface to enhance functions (activity, selectivity, and stability) spanning from making of sustainable chemicals and fuels,[14] via water splitting,[15] carbon dioxide,[16] to rechargeable Li-ion and Li-air batteries.
Subsequently, Shao-Horn and her coworkers have shown that increasing the metal-oxygen covalency enhances activity for oxygen evolution but beyond an optimal value reduces oxide stability.
[31][32][33] In 2018, Shao-Horn was awarded the Faraday Medal of Royal Society of Chemistry for her contributions to electrochemistry research, and she is the first woman receiving this recognition since its inception in 1977.
[36] She was selected to receive a Humbolt Prize in Chemistry from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for fundamental studies of interface at the Fritz Haber Institute.