Electrodeposition for Energy Applications

Short Course at ECS meetings

Electrodeposition is widely being used in the fabrication of materials and devices, and most recently this technique has been successfully applied to the fabrication of various components in energy conversion systems. This course will offer the opportunity to students, researchers and practitioners with a variety of technical backgrounds to be introduced for the first time or to refresh their understanding of the fundamentals of the technique, as well as to gain a perspective of its potentials in nanostructure fabrication, with particular focus on energy conversion and storage application. In this course the attendees will gain practical knowledge of the methods and techniques used in the synthesis of catalysts for fuel cells, components for batteries and capacitors, and radiation absorbers for photovoltaic and photelectrochemical devices.

Topics to be covered

1. Fundamentals of electrodeposition
   • Thermodynamics and kinetics
   • Thin film formation: the art and science of controlling microstructure and morphology
   • Electrochemical engineering aspects
2. Electrodeposition for energy conversion devices
   • Surface control electrochemical film formation down to the single atomic layer: Surface Limited Replacement Reaction and Electrochemical Atomic Layer Epitaxy
   • Electrodeposition of electrocatalyst materials
   • How to produce interpenetrating structures: application to batteries and supercapacitors
   • Thin film and nanostructured radiation absorbers for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices.

About the Instructors

Stanko Brankovic obtained a B.E. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in 1994 from University of Belgrade and Ph.D. in Science and Engineering of Materials in 1999 from Arizona State University (Phoenix). Before joining the Electrical Engineering Dept. at the University of Houston in 2005, he spent two years as a post doc at Brookhaven National Laboratory (1999-2001) and four years at Seagate Research Center in Pittsburgh (2001-2005). Dr. Brankovic research interests span in different areas of material and surface science including Thin Films, Corrosion, Electrocatalysis, Electrodeposition, Magnetic Materials, Nanofabrication and Sensors. He has authored 50+ publications, several book chapters, patents and trade secrets. Dr. Brankovic is editor of dozen conference proceeding volumes and special journal issues. He currently serves as the Chair of the Materials Science Division of the International Society of Electrochemistry, and as the vice-Chair of the Electrodeposition Division of The Electrochemical Society. He is the recipient of several awards including University of Houston Research and Excellence Award (2010) and NSF-The Faculty Early Career Development Award (2010). More information about Dr. Brankovic's group and research interests are available at: www2.egr.uh.edu/~ecnfg.

Giovanni Zangari is currently a professor at the University of Virginia (UVa); he received a M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, and a Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino. He joined UVa in 2002 after working as an assistant and then associate professor at the University of Alabama. His research is focused on photovoltaic and photolectrochemical energy conversion, structure-properties correlation in magnetic films, and on the fundamentals and applications of alloy deposition. He has published more than 170 papers in international journals, co-authored a book on electrodeposition, and holds 4 patents.