Electrochemistry has been applied to energy conversion and to processing technology for about 150 years.  However, many new and improved electrochemical processes and schemes for energy conversion have been proposed or developed in the last 40 years.  Furthermore, there is accelerating pace of development, especially in the fields of energy conversion, electronics, and the design and fabrication of various devices and specialized materials.

In this seminar, will be presented recent electrochemical research in the areas of (a) improved cell technology for metal electrowinning [1], (b) a new method of probing and/or controlling morphological evolution in electrodeposition processes [2], and (c) the author’s current research related to fuel cells, including the reconfigured anode for enhanced tolerance to carbon monoxide [3].  Current challenges and opportunities for electrodeposition and fuel cell research and development will be considered.

References

1.   J.C. Salas-Morales, J.W. Evans, O.M.G. Newman and P.A. Adcock, “Spouted bed electrowinning of zinc.  Part I: Laboratory scale electrowinning experiments”, Metallurgical & Materials Transactions B, 22 (1997) 59-68.

2.   P.A. Adcock, S.B. Adeloju and O.M.G. Newman,  “Measurement of polarisation parameters impacting on electrodeposit morphology.  I: Theory and development of technique”, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 32 (2002) 1101-1107.

3.   P.A. Adcock, S. Pacheco, E. Brosha, T.A. Zawodzinski, and F.A. Uribe,  “Maximization of CO tolerance of PEMFC systems using reconfigured anodes”, presented at the 202^nd Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Salt Lake City, October 20-24, 2002.  Full manuscript submitted (Sep. 2002) to the Electrochemical Society for Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Proton Conducting Membrane Fuel Cells.