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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260410T090000
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DTSTAMP:20260522T030626
CREATED:20260310T181021Z
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SUMMARY:Wonder Week: Chemical Engineering
DESCRIPTION:During Wonder Week\, you’ll have the chance to learn how the top-ranked Graduate School of Engineering at Northeastern University combines rigorous academics with experiential learning and convergent research. You’ll also see how our unique learning model better prepares the next generation of engineering leaders to address the complex challenges of global society. \nPrograms discussed include chemical engineering and pharmaceutical engineering.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/wonder-week-chemical-engineering/
LOCATION:Virtual
ORGANIZER;CN="Graduate School of Engineering":MAILTO:coe-gradadmissions@northeastern.edu
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260410T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260410T140000
DTSTAMP:20260522T030626
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SUMMARY:ChE MS Thesis Defense: Austin Breed
DESCRIPTION:Name: Austin Breed \nTitle: Fabrication of Na-ion Intercalation Materials for Kinetic Energy Harvesting \nDate: 04/10/2026 \nTime: 01:00:00 PM \nCommittee Members:\nProf. Joshua Gallaway (Advisor)\nProf. Sanjeev Mukerjee\nProf. Magda Barecka\nEnock Nagelli\, PhD \nLocation: Snell Library 001 \nAbstract:\nThis work investigates ion-solvation switching as a mechanism for electrochemical kinetic energy harvesting (EKEH) in low-power\, confined environments\, motivated by the growing demand for sustainable energy sources for distributed electronics. Long-term stability\, confined area design\, and unsteady current output limit contemporary harvesting designs\, often hamstrung by material engineering shortfalls. Copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) is a Prussian blue analogue (PBA) promising new active material under investigation in long-term storage and kinetic harvesting devices due to its face-centered cubic (FCC) structure conducive to ion-intercalation\, adequate theoretical capacity\, and stability comparative to traditional Prussian blue cathodes. However\, CuHCF still experiences notable capacity fade and mechanical degradation during prolonged exposure to aqueous electrolyte. This study fabricated copper CuHCF electrodes\, evaluated their structure using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and\, for varying fabrication parameters\, used electrochemical methods including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)\, cyclic voltammetry (CV)\, and open-circuit potential (OCP) power cycles to benchmark performance and\ndurability impacts. \nResults confirm that CuHCF-based systems can reproduce switching potentials on the order of ~0.40 mV. Though consistent with prior reports\, this work demonstrated prolonged voltage saturation time\, highlighting evidence of kinetic and diffusional limitations. Material composition strongly influenced electrochemical performance\, where Fe(II)-rich CuHCF exhibited improved reversibility and reduced overpotentials\, suggesting enhanced charge-transfer kinetics and structural stability\, albeit with a modest reduction in capacity. Electrolyte concentration further impacted performance\, reinforcing its importance as a design parameter. Thermal annealing degraded electrochemical initial performance\, likely due to the loss of interstitial water and disruption of ion transport pathways. \nThis work elucidated the sensitivity of performance and stability to various fabrication parameters in Na-ion intercalation materials for this ion-solvation switching applications.\nFurthermore\, this study highlights key trade-offs between stability\, capacity\, and voltage saturation in CuHCF-based ion-solvation switching systems and identifies critical areas for improvement\, particularly in materials engineering and electrolyte optimization\, to enable practical implementation of next generation electrochemical energy harvesting technologies. Understanding the causal relationships between fabrication methods and these measured quantities will drive future work towards mitigating these failure modes and limitations. \n\nAustin Grant Breed\, BS\, EIT Austin is currently pursuing a Master of Science (MS) in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston\, conducting research in the Gallaway Lab focused on electrochemical kinetic energy harvesting. He completed his undergraduate training in Chemical Engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point. During his time at West Point\, he conducted research in hemorheology\, developing stochastic models of large amplitude oscillatory shear forces in human blood\, and participated in a waste-to-energy demonstration project involving synthetic gas production via rotary kiln gasification. He also interned at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory\, where he analyzed the kinetic and aerodynamic effects of nanotechnology integrated into solid chemical propellants. Austin earned his EIT status in 2017. Prior to graduate school\, Austin served over seven years as a commissioned U.S. Army Aviation Officer\, accumulating approximately 750 flight hours across multiple rotary- and fixed-wing platforms including the CH-47F Chinook. His most recent military culminated in command of an aviation maintenance company in the 2-501st General Support Aviation Battalion at Fort Bliss\, where he oversaw maintenance operations for a 34-aircraft fleet and over 175 soldiers. He also served in several leadership roles supporting NATO deterrence operations in Europe and Korea. Austin’s service was recognized with the Meritorious Service Medal\, the Honorable Order of St. Michael\, and several other distinctions. Last year\, Austin served as a project lead at Storion Energy in Wilmington\, MA\, directing the development and assessment of a novel continuous vanadium electrolyte production process — work that also forms the basis of his thesis defense through Northeastern University’s Gordon Institute of Engineering Leadership fellowship. After completing his MS\, Austin plans to continue working towards his PhD in chemical engineering with the Gallaway Lab while instructing within the chemical engineering department at West Point.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/che-ms-thesis-defense-austin-breed/
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T140000
DTSTAMP:20260522T030626
CREATED:20260504T135009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260504T135009Z
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SUMMARY:ChE PhD Dissertation Defense: Kevin Yang
DESCRIPTION:Name:\nKevin Yang \nTitle:\nStructural Investigation of Single-Atom Catalysts in HCl Electrolysis\, CO₂ Reduction\, and Li-S Batteries \nDate:\n05/08/2026 \nTime:\n01:00:00 PM \nCommittee Members:\nProf. Sanjeev Mukerjee (Advisor)\nProf. Joshua Gallaway\nProf. Hannah Sayre\nProf. Magda Barecka \nLocation:\nEXP 202 \nAbstract:\nTransition metal single-atom catalysts have emerged as a promising class of materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage due to their high atomic utilization\, tunable electronic structure\, well-defined active sites\, and use to high earth abundant metals. Metal nitrogen carbon (M-N-C) catalysts are practical in a wide range of electrochemical systems. However\, the development of M-N-C catalysts into industrial systems still requires much effort\, in part\, due to the lack of durability and stability studies. M-N-C catalysts can be used in oxygen depolarized cathode (ODC) HCl electrolysis\, CO2 reduction\, and lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Understanding the mechanisms of M-N-C degradation\, durability\, and effects of modifications to such catalysts would ultimately benefit their implementation in each electrochemical system.   Chapter 1 introduces M-N-C catalysts and the various electrochemical systems they will be used in (ODC HCl electrolysis\, CO2 reduction\, and Li-S batteries). \nIn chapter two\, we investigate the durability of the Fe-N-C catalyst in ODC HCl electrolysis. Fe-N-C exhibits high oxygen reduction activity and strong resistance to chloride poisoning relative to most noble metal catalysts. However\, its durability and degradation mechanisms in HCl electrolysis are not well studied. Through a combination of durability studies\, accelerated stress tests\, and multimodal spectroscopic techniques\, we identified two main degradation pathways: an operational demetallation of Fe-N4 active sites under sustained polarization and a carbon-corrosion-induced demetallation that occurs during the transient conditions of uncontrolled shutdown. Spectroscopic analysis reveals one unstable FeN4 moiety and two stable Fe-N-C moieties that can withstand the HCl electrolysis operating conditions. These findings establish a mechanism for Fe-N-C degradation to drive future catalyst design. \nIn chapter three\, we modify Fe-N-C catalyst and Ni-N-C catalyst with heteroatom dopants to observe their effects on CO2 reduction activity\, product selectivity\, and the correlation with the changes in electronic and coordination structure. Using a post-pyrolysis treatment process\, we dope the environment around the metal active center either by introducing an axial ligand or binding to the carbon structure. Utilizing in situ/operando XAS\, we found that the dopants are generally not stable and can introduce a site-blocking effect at low overpotentials. Through these findings\, we find that the axial ligand dopants are not durable during CO2 reduction and do not make large contributions to the activity or product distribution of Ni-N-C and Fe-N-C in CO2 reduction. \nIn chapter four\, we investigate the effects of metal centers for M-N-C in polysulfide conversion and the changes in the active site structure after operation. The catalytic activity of M-N-C catalysts varies largely with different metal centers and coordinating environments.  We find that Co-N-C and Fe-N-C favor the oxidation of short-chain polysulfides to elemental sulfur\, while Sn-N-C and Ni-N-C make a larger contribution to the reduction of elemental sulfur to short-chain polysulfides. Mo-N-C\, which had the presence of Mo nanoparticles\, exhibited the lowest increase in performance compared to the others. This finding emphasizes the catalytic capability and importance of synthesizing purer M-N-C catalysts. All M-N-C catalysts were able to impact the conversion of lithium polysulfides to gain performance greater than baseline carbon. X-ray spectroscopic methods were used to analyze the structure of the M-N-C catalyst at various cycles to find that the active site structure of Fe-N-C undergoes a partial change to form Fe2O3\, while Co-N-C and Ni-N-C remain relatively stable. This change in the active site could be a cause of capacity decay in Li-S batteries. \nChapter 5 summarizes the findings and offers suggestions for future work. \n\nKevin Yang is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University\, where his research focuses on understanding structure–property relationships in single-atom catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion and storage. His work spans multiple electrochemical systems\, including oxygen depolarized cathodes for hydrochloric acid electrolysis\, CO₂ electroreduction\, and lithium–sulfur batteries\, with an overarching emphasis on how catalyst active sites evolve under operating conditions and how those structural changes govern activity\, selectivity\, and durability. Kevin’s research combines electrochemical engineering with advanced multimodal characterization\, including in situ and ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES/EXAFS)\, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy\, Raman spectroscopy\, electron microscopy\, and electrochemical diagnostics. Through this work\, he has developed mechanistic insights into active site degradation pathways in Fe–N–C and other transition metal–nitrogen–carbon single-atom catalysts\, helping bridge fundamental catalyst chemistry with practical reactor operation.
URL:https://che.northeastern.edu/event/che-phd-dissertation-defense-kevin-yang/
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