Seminar on "Conducting (Flowable) Suspension Electrodes for Water and Energy Applications"

Kelsey Hatzell

Date: 

Thursday, March 10, 2016 - 10:00am to 11:00am

Location: 

ESB 2001

Speaker: 

Dr. Kelsey Hatzell, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories

Suspension or semi-solid electrodes have recently gained increased attention for large-scale applications such as grid energy storage, capacitive water deionization, and wastewater treatment. A suspension electrode is a multiphase material system comprised of an active (charge storing) material suspended in an ionic solution (electrolyte). Gravimetrically, the electrolyte is the majority component and aids in the physical transport of the active material. This principle enables, for the first time, scalability of electrochemical energy storage devices (supercapacitors and batteries) previously limited to small and medium scale applications. This talk will combine classical aspects of electrochemistry, colloidal science, material science, fluid mechanics and rheology to describe ion and charge percolation, adsorption of ions, and redox charge storage processes in suspension electrodes. Moreover, novel techniques for examining a flow-electrodes ‘microstructure’ will be introduced. Finally a discussion of primary challenges and future research directions will be included.

Bio: Kelsey Hatzell is currently an ITRI-Rosenfeld Postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Lab. Previously, she received a B.S. in Engineering and a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State and a Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from Drexel University.  She is interested in the development of functional material systems for electrochemical applications that address critical challenges associated with accessibility to water and energy. 

Event Type: 

Seminar