Chemistry Department Seminar

The nanostructuring of electrochemical interfaces is important for the development of the next generation of energy sources such as Fuel Cells. In this area, several techniques and catalyst/support synthetic methods have been developed. Recently, our group has been involved on a new method known as the rotating disk slurry electrochemical (RoDSE) technique for the bulk preparation of catalysts/support materials for regenerative fuel cells. Our interest has been placed on the preparation of Pt/Vulcan and Pt/carbon nano-onions. For the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), tailored molecular precursors have been used to prepare methanol tolerant Pd-Co nanocatalysts. Moreover, sputtering techniques have been used to prepare Pd nanoshells for the ORR.
Wastewater treatment is another area of interest. Our group has been working on developing a bioreactor system for the oxidation of urea to ammonia to nitrogen in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center. This has led to a possible bioreactor system to be adapted to NASA Life Support Systems.
References
1. Eduardo Nicolau et al., Bioelectrochemical Degradation of Urea at Platinized Boron Doped Diamond Electrodes for Bioregenerative Systems”, Advance Space Research 2009, 44, 965-970.
2. Diana Santiago et al., Platinum Electrodeposition at High Surface Area Carbon Vulcan-XC72R Material Using a Rotating Disk-Slurry Electrode Technique, J. Electrochem. Soc., 2010, 157, F189-F195.
3. L. Cunci and C.R. Cabrera, Preparation and Electrochemistry of Boron-Doped Diamond Nanoparticles on Glassy Carbon Electrodes. Electrochemical and Solid State Letters 2011, 14, (3), K17-K19
4. L. La-Torre-Riveros et al., Synthesis of platinum and platinum-ruthenium-modified diamond nanoparticles. Journal of Nanoparticle Research 2011, 13, (7), 2997-3009.