Issue 22 – December 7, 2022

RESEARCH

Researchers from CINE’s Methane to Products program and collaborators took another step towards the commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Using an advanced technique for oxide deposition, the team built an additional layer between the cathode and the electrolyte and, in this way, managed to improve the performance and durability of the cell.

• Read the news on the CINE website.

• Go to the paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Prof. Ana Flavia Nogueira (UNICAMP), director of CINE, was elected permanent member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) in the field of Chemical Sciences. The election involved all the permanent members of the entity. This membership category is intended for people with outstanding scientific activity and notorious national leadership in their area.

Doctoral students Rafael Lavagnolli Germscheidt (UNICAMP) and Raphael Moral (UNICAMP) received student awards from the American Chemical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry for their contributions on hydrogen and perovskite production presented at oral sessions in Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) during the XX B-MRS Meeting.

Prof. André Polo (UFABC) received in Lausanne (Switzerland) one of the five awards for the best posters of the international conference IPS-23 for the work “Correlation of recombination processes and performance in MAPbI3 and MA/FAPbI3 perovskite solar cells”.

RESEARCH

Researchers from CINE’s Computational Science division used computer simulations to interpret experiments of MoS2 nanoflakes synthesis on gold surfaces. In the field of new energies, the material is promising for use as a catalyst and in solar cells and supercapacitors. The authors showed that the shape of the nanoflakes, which determines their properties, depends on the route of synthesis.

• Go to the paper in Applied Surface Science.

RESEARCH

This work from CINE’s Advanced Energy Storage division presents an experimental and theoretical study of polyaniline – an electronic conductive polymer that has been used in supercapacitors on a laboratory scale. The authors analyzed the degradation of the material under polarization conditions using operando Raman spectroscopy and computational simulations.

• Go to the paper in the Journal of Energy Storage.

RESEARCH

This article reports a study on catalysts based on nickel and palladium carried out within the Methane a Products division at CINE. The nanoparticles were used to convert methane into methanol and other compounds of industrial value, with simultaneous generation of electricity, using a polymer electrolyte fuel cell as a reactor.

• Access the article in Research on Chemical Intermediates.

BOOK CHAPTERS

A member of the CINE’s Methane to Products division is co-author of a chapter that addresses doping as a means of controlled insertion of defects in metallic oxides, in order to tune the properties and induce unique behaviors in these materials. The chapter has just been published in a book by Elsevier on defect engineering of metal oxides and their applications in energy and other areas.

• Access the book.

Prof. Ana Flavia Nogueira (UNICAMP), director of CINE, participated in a workshop on Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Imperial College London in July. The event is part of a British Council initiative which aims to develop gender equity policies in Brazilian universities through the exchange of experiences with UK universities that have well-established programs.

Prof. Raphael Nagao (UNICAMP) was one of the five scientists from Brazil selected by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences to participate in the session on low carbon technologies at the 7th BRICS Young Scientist Forum, held in Xiamen (China). In an oral session, Nagao presented a work on electrosynthesis of green fuels, developed within CINE’s Dense Energy Carriers division.

More than 20 CINE members participated in the XX B-MRS Meeting, the international conference of the Brazilian Materials Research Society, which this year was held in Foz do Iguaçu. In oral and poster sessions, they presented works developed within the Dense Energy Carriers and Methane to Products divisions addressing green hydrogen production, solar cells and methane conversion into compounds of industrial value.

Prof. Lucia Mascaro (UFSCar) gave an oral presentation on photocatalysts for CO2 reduction at the 5th edition of the CIPOA, international conference on advanced oxidation technologies that took place in Cusco (Peru).

Prof. Hudson Zanin participated in the episode about energy transition of the podcast Analisa, produced by UNICAMP radio and TV. The conversation was about the set of technologies, actors and processes that need to be brought together to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. See the video.

Prof. Fabio Coral Fonseca is one of the interviewees in a TV report on green hydrogen of the Brazilian newscast Jornal da Band. The researcher spoke about the work he has been doing at IPEN to improve the durability and reduce the costs of technologies for electric cars based on fuel cells running on ethanol. See the video.

CINE has two vacancies for PhDs in a project on photovoltaic energy (perovskite, graphene and niobium) that will be carried out at UNICAMP in cooperation with CTI Renato Archer and IFRN. More information, in the website.