Carlos Ponce-de-León (30 mins talk + 10 mins questions)
Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton
Title: Design and characterisation of a laboratory flow cell for electrochemical applications
Abstract: The design and performance of an electrochemical flow cell used for the Fe-air secondary flow battery will be presented. The Fe-air battery uses a bi-functional air electrode making it one-third lighter than the Fe/NiOOH battery for a given capacity rating. The electrochemical cell used is part of an engineering group design project at the university and a 3 dimensional printer was used to manufacture the polymeric flow cell components. The flexibility of using 3D printing to rapidly design, modify and manufacture different and complex flow cell prototypes is highlighted. The design and print process of the robust cell is described while the cell performance is validated using model reactions.
Biography:
Carlos Ponce de León is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton. He holds a PhD in electrochemistry/electrochemical engineering from the University of Southampton following research studies with Prof Derek Pletcher. His industrial experience includes quality control (Schering/Proquina), fuel cells (Mexican Petroleum Institute) and analytical chemistry (Ciba-Geigy) and he has pursued research at the University of Bath and at the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico. He has participated in research projects funded by the Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (USA), the EPSRC and a number of industrial companies. His research interests include electrochemical techniques, metal ion removal, characterization of novel electrode materials, electrochemical strategies for pollution control (nickel, lead dioxide and polypyrrole-titanate composite electrodes) and redox flow cells for energy conversion (such as zinc-cerium and borohydride-oxygen systems) have resulted in over 75 international scientific publications.