Vanesa Muñoz-Perales
Ph.D.
I am a School of Engineering Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in the Electrochemical Energy Lab (Prof. Yang Shao-Horn) and The Johnson's group (Prof. Jeremiah A. Johnson). My research focuses on the accelerated design of new electrolytes for beyond-lithium batteries using high-throughput platforms and on the understanding of ion transport in soft porous energy materials. During my PhD at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (advisor Prof. Marcos Vera and in collaboration with Antoni Forner-Cuenca (EMS, TUe)), I advanced the field of electrochemical flow reactors through the improvement of charge/mass transport by engineering alternative flow cell architectures and porous electrode microstructures. Right after, I worked on membraneless microfluidic redox flow batteries using new electrolyte concepts under the advise of Dr. Rebeca Marcilla in the Electrochemical Processes Unit, IMDEA Energy.
Research interests
Engineering new
flow cell architectures
By optimizing the flow cell architecture, the performance trade-off between electrochemical response and pressure losses can be improved in the electrochemical stacks of RFBs. I design new flow field geometries and electrode configurations using SLA 3D printing and experimental diagnostics.
Charge and mass transport in porous electrodes
Porous materials are used in a wide range of electrochemical applications. However, the impact of electrode microstructure on the charge and mass transport in the cell still remains poorly understood. I investigate structure-property-performance relationships in diverse porous microstructures and relate them to the flow battery performance.
Continuum modeling of electrochemical devices
Continuum models are a powerful tool to predict and optimize the macroscopic behavior of electrochemical devices. Operating variables, geometry and materials can be evaluated to improve the performace and mitigate undersirable effects in batteries.