Prof. Joey Ocon, Karl Adrian Gandionco, and James Digol attended the 18th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). The meeting was held last March 8-11, 2016 at Gwangju, located in the southwestern part of South Korea. Aside from the fruitful discussions on electrochemistry, they enjoyed a traditional Korean music performance, a bamboo forest tour, and a traditional Korean dinner.
According to the ISE, this conference is in response to current problems with expensive and inefficient systems in chemical energy conversion and storage. Key topics included oxygen reactions, catalysis, and developments in electrode construction in key electrochemical technologies like fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and water electrolysis. Sponsors of the meeting included the Ertl Center of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korean Electrochemical Society, and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Prof. Ocon, Gandionco, and Digol were the only Filipino attendees among the at least 214 participants from 22 countries. Gandionco and Digol presented their poster on carbon dioxide and oxygen reduction catalysts while Dr. Ocon talked about oxygen reduction catalysts in semiconductor-air batteries. All in all, there were 7 keynote lectures, 19 invited lectures, 43 oral presentations, and 103 poster presentations. The program was opened a speech from the former ISE president Dr. Hasuck Kim entitled “ Will H 2 be an Option for the Future Energy after Fossil Fuels? ”
Karl Gandionco and James Digol are both MS Chemical Engineering students at the laboratory. Their researches focus on CO 2 reduction and O 2 reduction, respectively.