Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

We are a team of researchers working at the forefront of clean energy technologies, electrochemical synthesis and/or transformations, electrochemical sensing, and related processes that require the design and testing of advanced materials. These materials include new metal alloys, new composites, new molecular catalysts, new designs of structured or textured materials, and more! To facilitate the development of materials and technologies at the forefront of our fields of study, we must overcome the limitations of our current infrastructure. More sensitive electrochemical measurements are critical to our making these advances. These measurements will enable a variety of clean energy technologies that include better methods at capturing and transforming gases that contribute to climate change (e.g., carbon capture), more efficient methods of creating key ingredients for fertilizers (e.g., nitrogen or nitrate conversion to ammonia), expanding the generation of other value-added products (e.g., conversion of chemical waste products into reagents, more efficient mineral extraction), improved mitigation of surface fouling (e.g., biological and/or chemical), and enhanced sensitivity to key chemical analytes dissolved in solutions (e.g., monitoring of waste water, patient health). Each of these areas are of critical importance for all Canadians to ensure food and water security, timely and affordable health care solutions, a healthy natural environment, and access to clean energy technologies. Enabling this future for all Canadians is an important outcome of the research we are pursuing. This pursuit will require continued innovation with regards to our ability to monitor and control transformations taking place at the surfaces of materials and, as the case for these studies, an ability to perform sensitive electrochemical measurements of the processes taking place thereupon. Another key outcome of the research that will be enabled by access to this equipment will be the training of highly qualified personnel. The sensitive measurements will provide highly qualified personnel with the critical information and hands-on training they need to assess the performance of their advanced materials. These personnel will engage in a process of designing, making, and measuring, followed by a refinement of their design and repeating this process as they aim to create high performance materials while also gaining valuable skills. In addition, on-going collaborations between the co-applicants will enable these highly qualified personnel to have access to a range of expertise throughout this process. The requested infrastructure will replace aging equipment with more sensitive systems that will enable sophisticated electrochemical measurements that are critical to enabling this team of researchers to evaluate and guide the design of these advanced materials.