Debra Rolison -  Advanced Electrochemical Materials Section
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | Washington, D C  20375, USA
 

Abstract: Our team at the Naval Research Laboratory looks at rate-critical chemical processes where events per second are required for high performance in such technologies as energy storage, energy conversion, (electro)catalysis, and sensing. We then design next-generation systems built around pore–solid nanoarchitectures that seamlessly embody all of the requisite rate functions for high-performance electrochemistry: molecular mass transport, ionic/electronic/thermal conductivity, and electron-transfer kinetics. We have taken the lessons from 20 years of probing the operational and design characteristics of catalytic and energy-relevant nanoarchitectures to create a zinc sponge—a stand-alone, 3D-wired anode that improves current distribution within the electrode structure during charge–discharge cycling, thwarts dendrite-formation, and can challenge the energy density of Li-ion battery packs, all while using safer aqueous-based chemistry. With this breakthrough, we are now addressing the family of zinc-based rechargeable alkaline batteries: nickel–3D zinc, silver–3D zinc, MnO2–3D zinc, and even rechargeable 3D zinc–air. The route we have taken to move from a creative concept to a fabricated reality to the necessary fundamental characterization to prototype development (and ultimately commercialization by outside companies) will be described.

Bio: Debra Rolison heads the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Her team designs, synthesizes, characterizes, and applies three-dimensionally structured, ultraporous, multifunctional, hold-in-your-hand nanoarchitectures for such rate-critical applications as catalysis, energy storage and conversion, and sensors.

Rolison was a Faculty Scholar at Florida Atlantic University (1972–1975; B.S. in Chemistry). She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980 after demonstrating the Pt-like character of RuO2 electrodes in nonaqueous electrolytes, helping to establish polymer-modified electrodes, and ensuring frequent pick-up games of killer volleyball. She joined NRL as a staff scientist in 1980.

Rolison is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Women in Science, the Materials Research Society, and the American Chemical Society. Among her major awards, she received the William H. Nichols Medal (2018), the E.O. Hulburt Award (2017; NRL’s top science award and the only female recipient in its 64 years of bestowal), the Department of the Navy Dr. Dolores M. Etter Top Scientist & Engineer Team Award (2016), the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Electrochemistry (2014), the Charles N. Reilley Award of the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (2012), the ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2011), and the Hillebrand Prize of the Chemical Society of Washington (2011).

Her editorial advisory board service includes Chemical Reviews, Analytical Chemistry, Langmuir, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Advanced Energy Materials, and the inaugural boards of Nano Letters, the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Annual Review in Analytical Chemistry and ACS Applied Energy Materials. Rolison also writes and lectures widely on issues affecting women (and men!) in science, including proposing Title IX assessments of science and engineering departments. She is the author of over 230 articles and holds 39 U.S. patents.

This lecture hosted by the Graduates in Nanotechnology Student Group. If you are interested in participating in GIN activities, please contact Dr. Quinn Spadola, Director of Education and Outreach, NNCI & SENIC at:  quinn.spadola@ien.gatech.edu