NSF Award
2440194
This award supports the organization of a workshop on Research Needs in Engineering of Electrochemical Conversions. The workshop will advance an important area for providing a path to high-efficiency, low-emission alternatives to fossil-fuel-driven thermochemical processes. Such a path is likely necessary to achieve economy-scale decarbonization. The workshop will be held in the Knoxville, Tennessee in the fall of 2024 and it is expected that there will be 50 in-person participants, and the workshop sessions will be live broadcast to virtual observers. The workshop will have sessions that focus on early career investigators to inform the research community of the needs and emerging trends in electrochemical systems research. The workshop will take place over two-and-a-half days and will include interactive sessions and a poster session to explore and define critical fundamental engineering science research needs in electrochemical systems, components, and materials for applications in energy and chemical processing. <br/><br/>The workshop will focus on the reaction and process engineering and science associated with electrochemical conversions for the chemical and energy industries. Engineering aspects of electrolysis of chemicals and water is the target scope, including: systems considerations: from electrochemical cells to grid-integrated electrochemical plants; processes in electrolysis and electrosynthesis; generic ‘counterelectrodes’ for use in electrosynthesis, such as oxygen evolving electrodes; materials for conversions, including membranes and porous electrode structures; advanced catalysis for conversions; and Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to accelerate development. The planned outcome from this workshop will be a publicly available white paper on research needs. The interdisciplinary workshop will synthesize the inputs from experts in industry, academia, and the national laboratories on critical fundamental research needs that support electrochemical conversion systems and components.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
