Ana C. Tavares
Ana C. Tavares is a Full Professor at Institute National de la recherche Scientifique – Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Varennes, Canada. She joined the institute in 2005. She graduated from the University of Lisbon (Laurea in Chemistry and PhD in Physical Chemistry); did a postdoctoral internship at the University of Milan under the supervision of Professor Sergio Trasatti from 1998 to 2000, and worked as Senior research scientist at Pirelli Labs (Milan) from 2000 to 2005.
Her research interests cover the development of electrocatalysts and electrode materials for fuel cells and electrolyzes, as well as functional materials for electrochemical sensors. She has published more than 90 papers and has 11 patents (granted and pending).
Anodic electrochemical exfoliation of graphite: a versatile method to prepare graphene materials for sensing, energy storage and conversion applications
Electrochemical exfoliation of graphite in aqueous solutions is a simple and effective technique for producing high-quality graphene-based materials in gram-scale quantities within a few hours. This method is more environmentally friendly and straightforward compared to the chemical synthesis routes commonly used to prepare graphene oxide (GO) materials.
In this talk, I will demonstrate how GO materials with varying sheet sizes, layer numbers, types and densities of functional groups, and electrical conductivity can be synthesized by adjusting exfoliation parameters such as the applied voltage, electrode spacing, and electrolyte composition. Specifically, I will present and discuss our recent research on the one-step synthesis and simultaneous functionalization of graphene materials with organic moieties and oxide nanoparticles—a topic that remains relatively underexplored.
Potential applications of these materials in electrochemical biosensing, energy storage (e.g., supercapacitors), and energy conversion (e.g., oxygen reduction reaction) will be presented and discussed in the context of structure–property relationships.