New Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversions and Storage

Since more than 25 years, the “CheMaMSE” (Chemistry of Materials for the Metamorphosis and the Storage of Energy, www.chimica.unipd.it/lab_DiNoto/) research group, led by Prof. Vito Di Noto, is at the forefront of the research in the field of advanced nanostructured functional materials for a wide number of device families, including fuel cells (FC), electrolyzers, secondary batteries, supercapacitors, and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The know-how of the CheMaMSE group covers the entire value chain of the research, from the preparation, characterization of the functional materials (such as: polymer electrolytes, ionic liquid, electrocatalysts, cathode, etc…) and their applications in devices. In fact, the most promising materials are adopted for the development of the next generation of energy conversion and storage devices, comprising: (i) secondary batteries; (ii) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs); (iii) high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC); (iv) electrolysers; (v) anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs); (vi) redox flow batteries (RFBs); and (vii) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The complex interplay between the chemical composition, thermomechanical properties, morphology, structure and electrical response is investigated in detail by means of advanced techniques, including inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), high-resolution thermogravimetry (HR-TGA), modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), high- resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), vibrational spectroscopies (e.g., FT-IR in the medium and far infrared, confocal micro-Raman), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), cyclic voltammetry with the thin-film rotating ring-disk electrode setup (CV-TF-RRDE) and broadband electrical spectroscopy (BES).