Issue 20 – September 26, 2022

RESEARCH

CINE researchers and collaborators have developed a material capable of improving the performance of sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, which are promising technologies since they are based on an element that is abundant and well distributed on planet Earth. The work was carried out within the Advanced Energy Storage division.

• Read the news story on the CINE website.

• Go to the paper in the Journal of Energy Storage.

A research work carried out in CINE’s Methane to Products (M2P) division was awarded at the 23rd International Conference On Solid State Ionics (SSI-23), a traditional biennial international event of the Materials Research Society (MRS), which this year was held in July in Boston (USA). “The Electrochemical Oxidation of Methane to Value-Added Products Using Bifunctional CeO2/ZrO2 Catalysts” was one of 13 award-winning posters among more than 100 that were presented at the event. The work was carried out within the recently defended master’s degree of Nicole Patrício. The poster was presented by her advisor, Elisabete Santiago (IPEN).

RESEARCH

In this work of the CINE Computational Science division, the authors investigate the interaction between the surface of MXenes (new materials with great potential for application as electrodes in batteries and supercapacitors) and the ionic liquids that are used as electrolytes in those devices. The study advances the understanding of the phenomena that occur at the electrode-electrolyte interface, which is fundamental to improve the performance of energy storage devices.

• Go to the paper in FlatChem.

RESEARCH

This is a study by researchers from CINE’s Methane to Products division and collaborators about anion exchange membranes (AEMs) produced by radiation grafting – a technique used to produce functional polymers using high-energy radiation. The authors analyzed the influence of irradiation conditions on the physicochemical properties of these membranes, which are used in fuel cells and electrolysers.

• Go to the paper in the Journal of Membrane Science.

RESEARCH

This article presents a quick and simple method to produce two-dimensional heterostructures of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride. The material was successfully tested in the photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol. The work was carried out by researchers from CINE’s Methane to Products division and collaborators.

• Access the article in the Applied Materials Today.

IX CINE-CMSC Workshop. August 29 to September 2, 2022. Online. Organized by CINE’s Computational Materials Science and Chemistry (CMSC) division, the workshop discussed advances in the application of computer science to the development of technologies for the energy transition. In each of the presentations, which were held in English, 60 to 70 people participated, including CMSC members and external participants from Brazil, Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia and India. The workshop featured invited speakers from France, Germany and Brazil and from NVIDIA. For CMSC members, the event provided new collaborations and consolidated ongoing projects, as well as preparing younger people to participate in larger events.

FIEC Summit 2022 – Hidrogênio Verde. August 3 and 4, 2022. Fortaleza (Brazil).
Prof. Fabio Fonseca (IPEN), principal investigator of CINE’s Methane to Products division, participated in the roundtable “Academia and the Green Hydrogen in Brazil”.

ACS Fall Meeting 2022 – Sustainability in a Changing World. August 21-25, 2022. Chicago and online.
Prof.Claudia Longo, researcher at CINE’s Dense Energy Carriers division, gave an oral presentation at the ACS Women in Energy symposium on photoreactors that use sunlight to transform CO2 into products and decontaminate water.

Workshop Hidrogênio Verde no Brasil. August 26, 2022. LNNano/CNPEM (Campinas, Brazil).
Prof. Ana Flavia Nogueira, director of CINE, spoke about the role of the Center in the national scenario of development of technologies for green hydrogen production.

In this TV report by Bom Dia SP (Globo) about the potential of the northwest of São Paulo for alternative energies, Prof. Ana Flavia Nogueira, CINE director and researcher, talks about photovoltaic energy. Watch the video.

CINE has two vacancies for undergraduate students at the Electroceramics Laboratory at IPEN to work on a project on sintering of functional ceramics using unconventional techniques. More information on the website.