Apresentação Pessoal

MatER   Materials for Energy Research -NEW  
On Nov. 6th, 2024, Materials Day, MatER was present at U. of Minho, Guimarães, at the Portuguese Materials Society (SPM) event!

Beatriz Gomes presented in the Ordem dos Engenheiros competition and did a fabulous job! It was a very disputed competition. Congratulations to the winners!

I presented in the morning and was awarded the biennial award Maria Manuela Oliveira. The Maria Manuela Oliveira Prize was established in 2019 with the aim of highlighting the crucial role that women play in research, development, innovation, technology transfer, and teaching in the field of Materials in Portugal.  It is a great honor! Thank you, SPM, Maria Manuela de Oliveira, U. Minho, and Vista Alegre, for this award. I hope I will be able to give back accordingly…

World’s Top 2% Scientists list (2023)       Absolute numbers are often deceiving… Glad there is some way to normalize impact where < 100 papers may enter simultaneously and through the same door as > 350 papers because it is not the number that matters!... Thanks, MatER, for your work and support, even in the bluest days…

Two manuscripts were accepted during the week of 23/09/24!  Go, MatER, Go! Fly high!
1. Manuela C. Baptista, Beatriz M. Gomes, Antonio B. Vale, M. Helena Braga, Journal of Energy Storage 102 (2024) 113983  In-Series All-Solid-State Anode-less Cells, Journal of Energy Storage, Already Published!

2. M. Helena Braga and A. Nuno Guerreiro, The HfO₂ ferroelectric-metal heterojunction and its emergent electrostatic potential: comparison with ZrO₂ and SiO₂, J. Materials Chemistry C, Accepted publication

Sept. 2024,  Proud to be an Associate Editor of the prestigious Journal of Energy Storage (Elsevier) with Prof. Dr. Luisa Cabeza as Editor-in-Chief!

New Iberian collaboration paper within the Redox MOFs FCT project:  Gonçalo Valente, Raquel Dantas [….] Manuel Souto, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2024, https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/ta/d4ta04576a

For those who want to understand "self-charge" in colleagues' words:
We were cited by Nature, by Prof. S. Salahuddin's group: Giant energy storage and power density negative capacitance superlattices, Cheema et al., Nature, 629, pages 803–809 (2024).
                                                            Our cited paper ref. 70
Braga, M. H., Oliveira, J. E., Murchison, A. J. & Goodenough, J. B. Performance of a ferroelectric glass electrolyte in a self-charging electrochemical cell with negative capacitance and resistance. Appl. Phys. Rev. 7, 011406 (2020).

Novel features on the subject, from surface switching (potential difference, temperature, and mass) to bulk harvesting and storage:
Maria Helena Braga, ChemComm (RSC), 2024 “Pioneering Investigators Collection 2024”, Energy Harnessing and Storage from Surface Switching with a Ferroelectric-Electrolyte doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CC00414K

In collaboration with Prof. Leon Shaw and Prof. Carlo Segre, Illinois Institute of Technology, IL, USA,
Junquan Ou, Vignyatha Tatagari, Ishani Senevirathna, Sudarshan Luitel, Carlo Segre, Leon Shaw, M. Helena Braga, J. Power Sources, 609 (2024) 234685 On the Formation and Properties of Amorphous and Crystalline Li_3-yBa_y/2OCl Electrolytes https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.234685

In collaboration with Prof. Volnei Tita's group (USP, Brazil, and FEUP), the first piezoelectric study on our cells!
B. Christoff, D. Marques, J. Carmo, M. H. Braga, V. Tita, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, On the strain-sensing capabilities of a novel all-solid-state sodium-based-electrolyte battery   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2024.111390 

    PULSELiON EU        

Most important experience:

2008-2011 Research Scholar and Long Term Visiting Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2008-2011).

2016-2019 Senior Research Fellow in the Materials Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, collaborating with Prof. John B. Goodenough, Nobel Prize of Chemistry 2019.

Main interests:Her main interests include experimental and theoretical characterization of solid-state materials and devices (e.g., ferroelectrics, electrolytes, energy harvest and storage devices, and metal hydrides). Her activities include materials synthesis, characterization, and devices’ conceptualization (new architectures), assembly, and testing.

The experimental techniques she uses are electrical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical cycling, ionic and electrical conductivity measurements, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray and neutron diffraction, and spectroscopy, including Rietveld refinement and pair distribution function (PDF).

Density function theory (DFT), phonon, molecular dynamics, electrical, optical, and mechanical properties calculations, and phase diagrams assessment (using CALPHAD) are some of her theoretical simulation tools.

She is credited with having created ferroelectric-glassy electrolytes and novel device architectures. 
Main recognitions:
- Portuguese Materials Society (SPM), Maria Manuela Oliveira Award (2024)
- World’s Top 2% Scientists list (2023)
- Scientific recognition FEUP in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2007 for her publications and/or patents;

- 2021 BIP PROOF award (Soli@uto team) with the support of Amadeu Dias Foundation, Santander Universities, and the University of Porto to develop a commercial prototype;

- 2020 Award "Personality" Exame Informática - Visão - Sapo (Portuguese) with SIC (TV); 

- 2014-2016 Special Visitor Researcher Grant of the CNPq (Brazilian Science Foundation);

- 2012 Luso-American Foundation (FLAD) Paper Grant to present the MRS 2012 invited talk in Boston, USA;

- 2008-2009 FCT Sabbatical fellowship;