Engineered surfaces for enhanced control of electrochemical bubbles

In this thesis, we investigate the impact of rationally designing a micro-textured electrode to enhance the release of electrochemically generated bubbles from its surface. By systematically studying the effects of altering the microscale surface texture of an electrode, we are able to demonstrate the ability for the geometry of an electrode's surface to enhance the release of bubbles from the surface, therefore enhancing the electrochemical output for a gas-evolving reaction. To this end, we fabricate a variety of micro textures and perform tests to show how the geometry of the surface can be used to enhance the release of bubbles from the electrode. From this, we are able to demonstrate that there is an optimal microtexture that maximizes the electrochemical output for a given condition. As a result, this thesis presents a novel approach to rationally design the surfaces of electrochemical electrodes to move towards 'bubble-free' surfaces for a variety of applications..

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Lake, John R.,S.M.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kripa K. Varanasi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128339

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/128339