COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 2, 2009 – Perla Balbuena, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, will present her research Wednesday, July 15 at the University of California, Santa Barbara as part of the International Materials Research Center Workshop on Modeling of Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts.
Balbuena’s invited lecture is titled “Activity and Durability Analysis of Pt-based Alloy Cathodes.” In addition, Gustavo-Ramirez-Caballero, a graduate student under Balbuena’s supervision, is scheduled to present an introduction to ab initio methods applied to atomic scale issues in fuel cell catalysts during the first day of the workshop.
The workshop, which is scheduled to take place July 12-16, is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It aims to bring together modelers and experimentalists working on electrocatalysts for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells and solid-oxide fuel cells to discuss the present understanding and challenges for the future.
Balbuena’s research focuses on understanding and predicting thermodynamic, transport and kinetic properties of materials using state-of-the-art first principles computational chemistry and physics methods. Her work centers on design of nanomaterials used as catalysts and electrolytes in power sources devices such as lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells.
