Prof. Zenyuk traveled to Vancouver area to REACH2 workshop organized by Dr. Jasna Jankovic, from University of Connecticut. The workshop took place at beautiful campus of University of British Columbia. Before the workshop she got a chance to stop by Dr. Steven Holdcrof’s lab, and see where the magic of synthesis of hydrocarbon membranes happens. The workshop was opened by a video from Dr. Sunita Satyapal who motivated the use of hydrogen and future of hydrogen in the US. The workshop also had excellent lab tours of NRC and Ballard. Prof. Zenyuk enjoyed the collaborative environment of the workshop and grateful to organizers for inviting her.
Prof. Zenyuk traveled to Europe several conferences, workshops, advisory boards back-to-back to showcase the group’s research, meet various relevant partners and provide expertise to various entities. The first stop of the trip was International Conference on Electrolysis (ICE) hosted at University of Freiburg. Prof. Zenyuk was an invited speaker in this conference with 350 participants. She delivered a presentation on electrolyzer compression study and x-ray CT for PTLs. She got the opportunity to reconnect with our lab alumni Sean Chapman, who is now Director of Research at Power to Hydrogen.
Prof. Zenyuk traveled to Paul Scherer Institute to deliver invited presentation during their Electrochemistry Day. It was great to visit again after 11 years. Last time she visited she was a postdoctorate fellow at LBNL. She reconnected also with her friend Dr. Felix Buchi, who just retired from PSI. The electrochemistry day was full of electrochemistry, with great talks and student posters. The dinner with all the organizers was also a highlight.
Prof. Zenyuk then visited Schaeffler company at Herzogenaurach, Germany near Erlangen to understand their electrolyzer production and R&D challenges. The sub-group meeting with MEA and stack designers was most helpful and we are looking forward to the possible future collaborations. Turns out her jacket color is “Schaeffler green”!
Prof. Zenyuk then traveled to International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) where she delivered an invited talk on IrOx crystallization. A separate post on this topic will be posted as the team members did very well at this conference. She got a chance to participate in Women in Electrochemistry panel with Prof. Radenka Maric, President of UConn and Dr. Isotta Cerri, Toyota. The panel was a lot of fun and we had many interesting questions to answer in an hour.
Prof. Zenyuk then was the reviewer of Junior Helmholtz group of Dr. Jun Huang in Dr. Eikerling’s institute at Juelich Center. She gave a talk in Electrolysis institute and spent several hours in lab touring, seeing impressive stack testing capability and overall testing capabilities. The review of Dr. Huang’s group was also very interesting experience and she also spent some time with our alumni Dr. Masao Shibata Suzuki who is now at Toyota Central R&D but also who was visiting Juelich.
Prof. Zenyuk then traveled to Electrochemistry Days of Italian Electrochemical Society where she delivered a keynote talk. The conference took place at San Benedetto Del Trento, a beautiful Adriatic sea resort. The conference gathered together mostly Italian electrochemists and had a fantastic program and also social program. Her talk was on IrOx catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for PEM water electrolysis.
Lastly, her final stop in Europe was in Bochum, Germany, where she took part in 7th Materials Chain International Conference, which she had a chance to open with her talk on IrOx catalysts for OER for PEMWEs. The next day she participated in Advisory Board of Research Center Future Energy Materials Systems (RC-FEMS) in Bochum Alliance. The role of the board was to evaluate the progress and provide directions for this overall excellent center. She also got a chance to visit the labs of Prof. Kristina Tschulik, who is her collaborator and a friend.
Her last step on the journey was University of Oregon electrochemistry days, where Prof. Zenyuk delivered an invited presentation. The conference brought together electrochemists from the local Pacific Northwest ECS chapter and also students from nearby universities to discuss challenges in fundamental and applied electrochemistry.