Faculdade

Eventos

ADÉLIO MENDES | 9th Conference Cycle UCIBIO & LAQV

Qua, 23 janeiro 2019, 12:00 - 13:00
Tipo de evento: 
Seminário
Localização específica: 
Room 217D - Edifício Departamental

ADÉLIO MENDES
Faculty of Engineering - University of Porto

 

PV and PEC devices for producing fuels from sunlight

 

Host: Luís Branco

9th Conference Cycle UCIBIO & LAQV

 

Abstract

First it was the wood and the fire, then the pitch; the industrial revolution brought the coal and later the oil and gas. Chemical Engineering as a separated Engineering field emerged from the so call petrochemistry or the chemistry of the petrol. Then, the world population grew exponentially because these great scientific and technological advancements and fossil fuels no longer ensured a sustainable development. At the beginning on the XXI century scientists begun pronouncing the word solarchemistry and solarchemical technologies; today’s the number of hits in google is just 2600 (for words solarchemistry and solarchemical), compared with 102 000 for words petrochemistry and petrochemical. It was nothing programed nor a breakthrough, it was an integration of various facts under an aggregating name coined independently is various places of the planet. The revolution is now going on, gaining momentum, for bringing us more suitable power and feedstock chemicals; and the human development can continue for a new paradigm.

Several technologies born under the name of solarchemical technologies will be addressed. Among them, it would be emphasized: a) photoelectrochemical devices for solar i) water splitting; ii) charging redox flow cells and; iii) CO2 photoelectroreduction; b) PV developments and battery energy storage; c) PV-hydrolysis; d power to gas synthesis; e) methane decomposition. This talk aims at to motivate new researchers and seed new ideas for this endeavor.

 

Short Bio

 

Adélio Mendes (born 1964) received his PhD degree from the University of Porto in 1993. Full Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Adélio Mendes coordinates a large research team with research interests in dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells, photoelectrochemical cells, photocatalysis, redox flow batteries, electrochemical membrane reactors (PEMFC, H-SOFC, chemical synthesis), methanol steam reforming, membrane and adsorbent-based gas separations and carbon molecular sieve membranes synthesis and characterization.