SEAL team @ Caltech
The Solar Energy Activity Laboratory (SEAL), headed by Professor Harry Gray of Caltech, offers high school and college students the opportunity to participate in scientific research aimed at discovering new metal oxide semiconductors with photo-electrochemical water-splitting activity. By using sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, the goal is to develop a storable, clean fuel, using inexpensive, earth-abundant materials, which is accessible to everyone.
To support the students’ research, a Caltech mentor visits Alverno Heights Academy weekly to work with the team and provide guidance. This experience, along with other research opportunities, has allowed the students to hone their research skills, including the ability to develop scientific research questions, perform literature searches, and to develop creative strategies and problem-solving skills. Students on the SEAL Team have also had the opportunity to do solar energy research on the Caltech campus during the summer.
To support the students’ research, a Caltech mentor visits Alverno Heights Academy weekly to work with the team and provide guidance. This experience, along with other research opportunities, has allowed the students to hone their research skills, including the ability to develop scientific research questions, perform literature searches, and to develop creative strategies and problem-solving skills. Students on the SEAL Team have also had the opportunity to do solar energy research on the Caltech campus during the summer.
SEALCON VIII 2017
SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCH LAB @CALTECH
CCI Solar FUels Conference
newport Beach, CA
On Saturday, January 28th 2017, the Alverno SEAL Team presented their research in a poster session at the Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Conference at the Newport Beach Marriott. The conference was a great opportunity for students to connect with eminent researchers in the field of solar fuels, and with peers in SEAL (Solar Energy Activity Lab). The team has been working on finding acid-stable materials and techniques to create efficient corrosion-resistant photo-catalysts for splitting water. Corrosion is an important problem to solve in water-splitting solar cells for the longevity of the devices, to make water-splitting a feasible technology for energy capture and storage.
It was, as always, a wonderful opportunity to talk with Chemistry Rock Star and Alverno Team Cheerleader and friend, the beloved Professor Harry Gray. The Alverno team has a special connection with Professor Gray because his wife used to teach math at Alverno!
The students on the team are enrolled in the Honors Research in Science class, where students have the opportunity to do a variety of long term authentic scientific research projects such as SEAL, iGEM (Synthetic Biology), Pulsar Search Collaboratory (Astrophysics), etc., with mentors from Caltech, and other research institutions.
It was, as always, a wonderful opportunity to talk with Chemistry Rock Star and Alverno Team Cheerleader and friend, the beloved Professor Harry Gray. The Alverno team has a special connection with Professor Gray because his wife used to teach math at Alverno!
The students on the team are enrolled in the Honors Research in Science class, where students have the opportunity to do a variety of long term authentic scientific research projects such as SEAL, iGEM (Synthetic Biology), Pulsar Search Collaboratory (Astrophysics), etc., with mentors from Caltech, and other research institutions.
SEAL 2016-17 Kickoff
On Saturday, September 24th 2016, the Alverno SEAL Team attended Caltech Professor Harry Gray's Solar Army kickoff event to receive training in the equipment used in the solar energy research and to listen to lectures about solar energy, chemistry, photosynthesis, and semiconductors. This is, sadly, the last year of SEAL, since the NSF funding will run out at the end of the year. Professor Gray is beloved at Caltech, and certainly by us at Alverno.
History of SEAL @Alverno
In 2014-15, the team worked on the “coffee-ring effect”, a phenomenon where the particles in a liquid move to the perimeter of a drop as it dries.
They were successfully able to significantly lessen the coffee-ring effect by causing the particles to distribute more evenly across the area of the drops, deposited on a FTO glass plate, during drying. This was achieved by placing an array of glass balls (of approximately the same diameter as the drops), lined up on top of the individual spots, while drying on a hot plate.
The Alverno SEAL team presented their results at SEALCon in May 2015.
They were successfully able to significantly lessen the coffee-ring effect by causing the particles to distribute more evenly across the area of the drops, deposited on a FTO glass plate, during drying. This was achieved by placing an array of glass balls (of approximately the same diameter as the drops), lined up on top of the individual spots, while drying on a hot plate.
The Alverno SEAL team presented their results at SEALCon in May 2015.
In the summer of 2015, rising senior, Caitlyn, participated in the 6-week on-campus Summer SEAL research, where she had the opportunity to explore more deeply a topic of solar energy semi-conductor research.
In 2015-16, the team grew in size, due to its popularity, and chose to explore a wider range of questions. The first investigation was the structural difference between metal oxide spots that are good electrolyzers of water and those that are not. They discovered, by examining Atomic Force Microscopy images of the spots, that there appears to be a crystalline structure difference between the two, chemically identical, spots. They will continue to refine techniques which can consistently achieve the “good” spots.
Other questions that the team are working on are the discovery of electrode materials which will resist corrosion in acidic electrolytes, and the creation of methanol by reducing carbon dioxide.
The SEAL team is also exploring the use of bacteria as oxygen sensors to evaluate the water-splitting capability of various catalysts. The team successfully presented the concept and their progress in the poster session of the CCI Solar Fuels Conference in February 2016.
In the summer of 2016, two Alverno students, rising senior, Asia, and rising junior, Melody spent 6 weeks on the Caltech campus in Summer SEAL.
In 2016-17, the team will continue doing interesting solar energy research with Caltech