Alfonso Sáez

University of Alicante | UA · University Institute of Electrochemistry

The development of clean, renewable, and affordable energy sources such as wind or sun has become a necessity for a sustainable energy society. Consequently, it is highly required the development of energy storage systems capable of efficiently storing the energy generated by these intermittent sources. In recent years, hydrogen-based technologies...

The electrocatalytic hydrogenation of benzophenone was performed at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using a polymer electrolyte membrane electrochemical reactor (PEMER). Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles were synthesised and supported on a carbonaceous matrix (Pd/C) with a 28 wt % of Pd with respect to carbon material. Pd/C was characterised b...

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 has been pointed out as an interesting strategy to convert CO2 into useful chemicals. In addition, coupling CO2 electroreduction with renewable energies would allow storing electricity from intermittent renewable sources such as wind or solar power. In this work, an easy and fast method is adapted for the synthesis...

In this work a new electrocoagulation reactor with cylindrical geometry using a three-dimensional steel wool anode has been developed. The architecture of the Electrocoagulation reactor is closely related to a filter cartridge, modified in order to contain the electrodes. The complete system includes the Cartridge Type ElectroCoagulation Reactor (C...

In this paper, we present a new Acid-Base Electrochemical Flow Battery (ABEFB). This system is composed of acidic and alkaline solutions, both with a high supporting electrolyte concentration. These solutions are separated by a proton exchange membrane, using hydrogen as both a reactant and a product. Under this configuration, neutralization energy...

The development of electrochemical processes for the conversion of CO2 into value-added products allows innovative carbon capture & utilization (CCU) instead of carbon capture & storage (CCS). In addition, coupling this conversion with renewable energy sources would make it possible to chemically store electricity from these intermittent renewable...

In this study, we examine the performance of Cu2O and Cu2O/ZnO surfaces in a filter-press electrochemical cell for the continuous electroreduction of CO2 into methanol. The electrodes are prepared by airbrushing the metal particles onto a porous carbon paper and then are electrochemically characterized by cyclic voltammetry analyses. Particular emp...

Herein, we explore the immobilization of nickel on various carbon supports and their application as electrocatalysts for the oxidation of propargyl alcohol in alkaline medium. In comparison with massive and nanoparticulated nickel electrode systems, Ni-doped nanoporous carbons provided similar propargyl alcohol conversions for very low metallic con...

The pre-pilot scale synthesis of 1-phenylethanol was carried out by the cathodic hydrogenation of acetophenone in a 100 cm2 (geometric area) Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrochemical Reactor. The cathode was a Pd/C electrode. Hydrogen oxidation on a gas diffusion electrode was chosen as anodic reaction in order to take advantage of the hydrogen...

In this work carbon supported Pd nanoparticles were prepared and used as electrocatalysts for formic acid electrooxidation fuel cells. The influence of some relevant parameters such as the nominal Pt loading, the Nafion/total solids ratio as well as the Pd loading towards formic acid electrooxidation was evaluated using gold supported catalytic lay...

The use of a solid polymeric electrolyte, spe, is not commonly found in organic electrosynthesis despite its inherent advantages such as the possible elimination of the electrolyte entailing simpler purification processes, a smaller sized reactor and lower energetic costs. In order to test if it were possible to use a spe in industrial organic elec...

Bismuth-modified Pt nanoparticles supported on carbon have been employed as anode electrocatalyst for a direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC). Two different types of electrodes were used: a thin layer Pt/C working electrode deposited on a gold substrate and a coated catalyst (Pt/C) membrane. Bismuth was deposited on the Pt nanoparticles by irreversi...

Platinum single crystal electrodes, Pt(h k l), represent ideal materials where studying surface sensitive reactions such as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Moreover, there is a great interest in testing carbon supported electrocatalyts mixed with Nafion (R) ionomer in order to directly evaluate catalysts under practical fuel cell conditions. Thus,...

The electrosynthesis of N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) from the electroreduction of N,N-diacetyl-l-cystine (NNDAC) using a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrochemical Reactor (PEMER) has been carried out. The Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) was formed by a cathode with a catalyst layer made of Pb/C 20 wt% supported on Toray Paper and a catalyst loadi...

The electrosynthesis of L-cysteine (RSH) in aqueous medium has been investigated using Pb particles dispersed on carbon as a cathode for L-cystine electroreduction. Pb particles were synthesized in a water-in-oil microemulsion and later dispersed on carbon Vulcan XC-72. The electrochemical characterization of the Pb/C catalyst was carried out by cy...

We report the preparation and electrochemical characterization of gold supported catalytic layer electrodes which have been prepared using a similar methodology to that employed in the preparation of conventional catalyst coated membranes. Consequently, the so-prepared catalytic layers have comparable properties (morphology and thickness) than thos...

An electrochemical process for the removal of lead using a three-dimensional carbon-felt cathode and a hydrogen-diffusion anode has been developed. The process is able to cope with effluents coming from lead electrowinning processes in fluoroborate baths after the lead has been electrolytically removed to approximately 100 mg/L (100 ppm). The lead...

RESUMEN (ABSTRACT) La red "El estudiante científico" abordará en esta comunicación el fomento y desarrollo de nuevas metodologías para cultivar creatividades en el grado de Química. La creatividad en el estudiante de grado debe de ser una herramienta fundamental para ligar las competencias académicas adquiridas con las nuevas necesidades que el mun...