Materials Science & Engineering

Biography

Biography: Antonio Riul Jr

Abstract

The layer-by-layer (LbL) technique is an easy, flexible an elegant bottom-up strategy that has been widely used to promote surface modification at nanoscale level, as well as for multilayer formation of advanced fuctional materials. We will show LbL films in sensor and fuel cell applications, exploring as well microfluidics and 3D-printing technologies. Microfluidics deals with the precise control and manipulation of liquids at the submillimetre scale, integrating research fields with emergent technologies in a cost-effecive manner. 3D printing is a fully automated process offering rapid prototyping to built complex structures with high resolution without experts, with the addtitional potential of using materials beyond polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) realms. The 3D printing technology can be used to facilitate the integration and fabrication of microfluidic devices, and here an e-tongue set-up was printed in less than 1h, being able to distinguish tastants below the human threshold. We also show the use of LbL films of graphene nanoplatelets in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs). Briefly, DMFC are promising devices for clean energy generation, however, the major impedment to commercial applications is the methanol crossover from anode to cathode. Graphene nanoplateles of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide stabilized in poly(styrenesulfonic acid) sodium salt (GPSS) were LbL assembled onto Nafion® membranes in order to serve as a barrier to hamper the methanol permeation. The characterization of the modified LbL modified membranes indicated positive barrier property of the graphene nanoplatelets to the methanol permeation in a DMFC setup.