{"685940":{"#nid":"685940","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Nikhil Govindarajan","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENikhil Govindarajan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdvisor: Prof. Meilin Liu (MSE)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ewill propose a doctoral thesis entitled,\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDevelopment and Operando Characterization of Catalysts for Reversible Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOn\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThursday\u003C\/em\u003E, November 20th\u0026nbsp; at 10:00 a.m.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMolecular Sciences and Engineering (MoSE) Room 3201A\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOr\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3ameeting_YWRmYzY0MDItOTVmYS00Yjc1LWFkMGEtZjk3N2Q4MDAwMWU0%40thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22e6d34d06-ebee-4a2c-ba6d-2f83f1b9b174%22%7d\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3ameeting_YWRmYzY0MDItOTVmYS00Yjc1LWFkMGEtZjk3N2Q4MDAwMWU0%40thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22e6d34d06-ebee-4a2c-ba6d-2f83f1b9b174%22%7d\u0022\u003EVirtually via Teams Link\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Prof. Meilin Liu - School of Materials Science and Engineering (Advisor)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Prof. Hamid Garmestani - School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Prof. Preet Singh - School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Prof. Faisal Alamgir - School of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Prof. David Flaherty - School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReversible proton conducting electrochemical cells (r-PCECs) have emerged as promising devices capable of converting electricity into useful chemical fuels via CO2\u0026nbsp;electrolysis, and vice versa via fuel oxidation. The commercialization of r-PCECs, however, is limited by the sluggish reaction kinetics and long-term durability of the air and fuel electrode materials\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo address these issues, in the first study of this dissertation proposal, we will develop catalyst materials to improve performance by enhancing the ORR\/OER kinetics in the air electrode. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) will be used to evaluate catalyst performance. A combination of Impedance analysis and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eoperando\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) will be employed to elucidate the mechanistic details behind performance enhancement due to the catalyst. With that information, we will computationally search the material space to identify better catalysts and experimentally validate the screened catalysts to establish guidelines for the rational design of catalyst materials for air electrodes\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the second study, we will employ\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ein-operando\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003ESERS to characterize the complex mass and charge transfer processes occurring at the cermet fuel electrodes during CO2\u0026nbsp;electrolysis. With specially designed model cells, we will utilize\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eoperando\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;SERS to gain insight into how the degradation of fuel electrodes proceeds in CO2containing atmospheres. With this baseline established, we will perform a comparative\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eoperando\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003ESERS study of bare and catalyst-modified fuel electrodes to identify key features of the catalyst material that enhance the stability of fuel electrodes in CO2\u0026nbsp;containing atmospheres. This knowledge will enable the rational development of materials and catalysts for next generation r-PCECs for long-term, cost-effective energy storage and conversion.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDevelopment and Operando Characterization of Catalysts for Reversible Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Development and Operando Characterization of Catalysts for Reversible Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2025-10-22 19:52:55","changed_gmt":"2025-10-22 19:53:29","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2025-11-20T10:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2025-11-20T12:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2025-11-20T12:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2025-11-20 15:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2025-11-20 17:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2025-11-20 17:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Molecular Sciences and Engineering (MoSE) Room 3201A","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}