Interfacial Effect Study of Alkaline Membrane Media Using Microelectrodes

From May 28th until May 31st, I attended the 231st Electrochemical Society Conference in New Orleans, LA. I have been working in Dr. Mukerjee’s lab for over a year studying renewable energy technology, which ultimately culminated in a collaborative project between PhD candidate Huong Doan and myself on alkaline membranes. My work for the conference, a poster entitled “Interfacial Effect Study of Alkaline Membrane Media Using Microelectrodes,” focuses on the use of microelectrodes to determine whether or not non-precious group metal (non-PGM) catalysts could out-perform precious group metal (PGM) catalysts in terms of efficiency in producing pure hydrogen gas.

Though I had previously presented similar work at the Spring 2017 Matz Symposium and RISE:2017, I never presented at a conference outside of Northeastern University. This opportunity not only gave me a chance to share my work with a larger audience, but allowed me to further educate the electrochemical community on non-PGM catalysts and their potential for producing cheaper renewable energy. Outside of this, I had chance to listen to presentations given by other people, including world renowned scientists in the field, discussing the future of electrochemistry and its uninhibited potential.

I seized the opportunity to engage with fellow researchers from across the globe, including Belgium, Germany, and Israel, that were all PhD candidates studying in the electrochemistry field, about the future of our discipline and the potentiality my research to branch out. I intend to use this experience as motivation to continue my work with renewable energy in Dr. Mukerjee’s lab.

Conference Travel Fund Blog Post by Jenna Malley
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry ’17