WIN and MME Joint Seminar - Moving droplets chemically: Vision for tunable electrodes

Friday, November 18, 2022 11:00 am - 11:00 am EST (GMT -05:00)

The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) and the Department Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (MME) are proud to present a joint seminar by Professor Bijoy Bera from the Transport Phenomena Group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).

The seminar will be on "Moving droplets chemically: Vision for tunable electrodes". Refreshments will be provided! Registration required.

Where: Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) 1501
When: November 18th, 2022 - 11:00am to 12:00pm

Moving droplets chemically: Vision for tunable electrodes

Abstract

As the world transitions towards new types of energy resources, the importance of large-scale hydrogen production is becoming apparent. Hydrogen production by electrolysis would be a perfect solution in near future, but the efficiency of such a process remains low. One of the main reasons of the low efficiency is the produced bubbles not lifting off the electrode surface on a timely manner, blocking the subsequent production and lowering the efficiency.

In this presentation, I will discuss explored possibilities of improving the aqueous wettability of the electrode surface which will force the bubbles to 'lift off'. Firstly, I will show how a droplet on a surface can be manipulated with specific ions and surfactants. Subsequently, I will discuss how adding an electric field to the chemical driving of droplet might or might not a great solution. I will wrap up by providing an outlook of how the fundamental research of (electro)chemical driving of droplets can lead to efficient and much needed electrodes in future.

Biography

Bijoy Bera photo
Dr. Bijoy Bera studied Mechanical Engineering and pursued his M.Sc. Thesis under the guidance of Prof. Sushanta Mitra at MNT Lab at University of Alberta. Subsequently, he worked on 'Wetting Transition' for his PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Frieder Mugele at Physics of Complex Fluids Group at University of Twente in the Netherlands. After postdoctoral fellowships at University of Amsterdam and Wageningen University, Bijoy started in 2020 as an assistant professor at the Transport Phenomena Group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).