Continuous sensing and flow with bubbles

Continuous sensing and flow with bubbles
1st promotor: Prof. Albert van den Berg
2nd promotor: Prof. Han Gardeniers
1st supervisor and co-promotor: Assistant Prof. David Fernandez Rivas
2nd supervisor: Assistant Prof. Jan Philipp Hofmann (TU/e)
Affiliation: University of Twente
Research theme: Storing Electricity from Renewable Sources in Chemical Bonds

The production of solar fuels, among which hydrogen gas, has gained much attention in the last decade. However, the promised ideal of powering disparate devices using sunlight with zero-emissions still faces scientific and technological challenges. Even with the recent development of new materials and device architectures, there is a knowledge gap that needs to be covered on the role of H₂ (and O₂) bubble generation and transport, specifically in continuous flow systems.

To achieve an efficient fuel production, it is not sufficient to locally control where gas bubbles are formed in stationary conditions. Hence, this project is aimed at gaining new fundamental insight in two challenging directions: (i) the processes and parameters associated with hydrogen bubble generation and transport under continuous flow conditions in novel and smart electrode designs, (ii) uncover new analytical concepts to measure dynamic physicochemical changes in the vicinity of bubble evolution sites. Both challenges have in common an unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution that is in high demand for designing and testing the solar fuel generators of the future.

Keywords:

• Bubble
• Electrolysis
• Photocatalysis
• Mass transfer
• Solar fuels