Seminar on 'Cheap and Accessible Electrochemistry' on Friday

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Gabriel N. Meloni

Gabriel N. Meloni of the University of Warwick will give a seminar titled "Cheap and accessible electrochemistry: modern fabrication tools towards electrochemistry instrumentation."

The seminar will take place on Zoom from 4-5 p.m. this Friday. The talk is free and open to the public.

Meloni has a B.Sc. (2012) and a Ph.D. (2017) degree in chemistry, under the supervision of professor Mauro Bertotti, both from the University of São Paulo, USP (Brazil). He has worked on electrochemical techniques and instrumentation since 2009, when he was a visiting student at the University of Venice under the tutoring of Professor Salvatore Daniele.

Meloni held a Marie Curie Research fellowship at the University of Warwick (2018-2020) working on the development of new electrochemical imaging techniques for investigating cellular processes with subcellular resolution through the use of multifunctional electrochemical probes. He is now a postdoctoral research assistant with the Bio-Electrical Engineering Innovation Hub, an innovation hub he helped to develop and establish at the University of Warwick which carries research bridging electrochemistry and cellular biology.

Meloni will speak on microcontrollers and 3D printers: versatile prototyping platforms once exclusive to manufacturers. Now, with the rise of the "Do It Yourself" (DIY) community, they are accessible to consumers and finding space in chemistry laboratories. The use of 3D printing and microcontrollers in research and teaching has significantly grown in the past years and has had a major impact on scientific practices. Developing instrumentation with these techniques delivers equipment that performs similar to commercial equipment at a fraction of the price. This equipment is often more flexible than commercial alternatives but requires a more profound understanding of the technique used by the operator/student. This provides an interesting teaching opportunity as the DIY nature of the equipment breaks down the common "black box" construction, and allows operators/students to understand the principle of operations and the limitation of the equipment in hand. 

Meloni's lecture will examine this evolving field that is generating new applications and closing the gap between DIY instruments and commercial alternatives. Modern fabrications tools have made electrochemistry more accessible and prompted a wider adoption of electrochemical techniques in both teaching and research. Although this is of especial interest for developing countries, new research centers, and starting research groups, amid the COVID-19 pandemic DIY and home-based alternatives are being more valued, and modern fabrication tools are the only alternative to home-delivery laboratory experiments on demand.

To attend the seminar, please visit the Zoom link.

Meeting ID: 873 4638 0922
Passcode: 8x&W7k)B