Publications by Sophia Haussener

Optimization of hybrid sensible-latent seasonal heat storage systems

This study presents a coupled techno-economic and environmental model of hybrid sensible-latent thermal energy storage (TES) systems, integrating phase change material (PCM) macro-capsules to enhance storage capacity and performance. The multi-scale model ...

2025

Connecting scales in reaction engineering

Jeremy Luterbacher, Sophia Haussener

Springer Science and Business Media LLC2025

Catalyst layer at the junction of a forward bias bipolar membrane for CO2 electrolysis

Sophia Haussener

CO2 reduction in an electrolysis cell with a forward bias bipolar membrane (BPM) ensures good selectivity and CO2 utilization, but still suffers from large overvoltages. Recent studies have shown that integrating metal-oxide catalysts at the BPM junction i ...

2025

Effect of Operating Conditions on the Degradation of BiVO4 Photoanodes

Sophia Haussener, Isaac Thomas Holmes-Gentle, Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora

This work investigates how irradiance, temperature, and electrolyte properties (pH, concentration, and flow rate), influence the degradation of spray-pyrolyzed BiVO4 photoanodes during water splitting for solar fuel production. A novel four-cell photoelect ...

Wiley2025

Water Management in Zero-Gap CO2 Electrolyzer with Forward Bias Bipolar Membranes

Sophia Haussener

CO2 electrolysis is a promising process to produce synthetic and carbon-neutral chemicals. Zero-gap CO2 electrolyzers featuring a forward bias bipolar membrane (BPM) solve problems like salt precipitation and CO2 crossover but still suffer from limited per ...

2025

Impact of Gas Bubble Evolution Dynamics on Electrochemical Reaction Overpotentials in Water Electrolyser Systems

Sophia Haussener

This study establishes a theoretical framework to elucidate the impact of gas bubble evolution dynamics on the reaction overpotentials in electrolytic hydrogen and oxygen production. By distinguishing between ohmic, activation, and concentration overpotent ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2025

Quantifying mass transport limitations in a microfluidic CO2 electrolyzer with a gas diffusion cathode

Sophia Haussener, Venu Gopal Agarwal

A gas diffusion electrode (GDE) based CO2 electrolyzer shows enhanced CO2 transport to the catalyst surface, significantly increasing current density compared to traditional planar immersed electrodes. A two-dimensional model for the cathode side of a micr ...

2024

Optical characterization of a solar concentrating dish system

Sophia Haussener, Clemens Gregor Suter, Isaac Thomas Holmes-Gentle

Solar dishes concentrate the quasi-collimated sun light towards a focal point. Typically, the optical characterization consists of experimental flux map measurements and Monte-Carlo ray-tracing (MCRT) simulations, which are fitted based on experimental dat ...

Institute of Physics2024

Stability and degradation of (oxy)nitride photocatalysts for solar water splitting

Sophia Haussener, Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora

Advancing towards alternative technologies for the sustainable production of hydrogen is a necessity for the successful integration of this potentially green fuel in the future. Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting are promising concepts ...

2024

Contrasting Views of the Electric Double Layer in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction: Continuum Models vs Molecular Dynamics

Sophia Haussener, Evan Fair Johnson

In the field of electrochemical CO2 reduction, both continuum models and molecular dynamics (MD) models have been used to understand the electric double layer (EDL). MD often focuses on the region within a few nm of the electrode, while continuum models ca ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Radiative transfer in luminescent solar concentrators

Sophia Haussener, Sha Li

A luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) offers a viable solution to spectrally convert and concentrate both direct and diffuse sunlight without the need for tracking. Its potential for commercialization is currently limited by the optical performance. A det ...

2024

Experimental and numerical pore-scale characterization of multi-mode heat transfer in porous ceramics exposed to a transverse heat flux

Sophia Haussener, Clemens Gregor Suter

We present experimental and computational approaches to characterize the multimode heat transfer in an open-cell Si-SiC foam exposed to a transverse heat flux. The experimental setup consists of a 5×5×10 cm3 parallelepipedal 10ppi foam (83% porosity) place ...

Institute of Physics2024

ICP–MS Assisted EDX Tomography: A Robust Method for Studying Electrolyte Penetration Phenomena in Gas Diffusion Electrodes Applied to CO2 Electrolysis

Sophia Haussener, Francesca Lorenzutti

A carbon paper-based gas diffusion electrode (GDE) is used with a bismuth(III) subcarbonate active catalyst phase for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in a gas/electrolyte flow-by configuration electrolyser at high current density. It is demonstrated t ...

2024

Multi-Scale Modeling of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

Sophia Haussener

Multi-physical transport processes on multiple scales occur in electrochemical devices and components for CO2 electroreduction. These complex coupled transport processes determine the local environment in the catalyst layer and subsequently also the reacti ...

FUNDACIO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA SCITO2024

In Situ Synthesis of CuxO/N Doped Graphdiyne with Pyridine N Configuration for Ammonia Production via Nitrate Reduction

Sophia Haussener, Roberto Valenza, Jian Li

Electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia provides an interesting pathway for wastewater treatment and valorization. Cu-based catalysts are active for the conversion of NO3− to NO2− but suffer from an inefficient hydrogenation process of NO2−. Herein, CuxO/N- ...

2024

Probabilistic Techno-Economic Assessment of Medium-Scale Photoelectrochemical Fuel Generation Plants

Sophia Haussener, Alexandre Dominique M. Cattry

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems are promising approaches for sustainable fuel processing. PEC devices, like conventional photovoltaic-electrolyzer (PV-EC) systems, utilize solar energy for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. Contrary to PV-EC syst ...

2024

Reversible photo-electrochemical device for solar hydrogen and power generation

Sophia Haussener, Alexandre Dominique M. Cattry, Saurabh Yuvraj Tembhurne, Matthieu Jonin, Mahendra Patel

A reversible photo-electrochemical device operating under concentrated irradiation could offer a stand-alone solution for producing solar fuel (in photo-driven electrolysis mode) and power (in fuel cell mode). This strategy would present the advantage of h ...

2024

Rate-Determining Step for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide into Carbon Monoxide at Silver Electrodes

Sophia Haussener, Etienne Boutin

Silver is one of the most studied electrode materials for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, a product with many industrial applications. There is a growing number of reports in which silver is implemented in gas diffusio ...

2024

High-throughput parallel testing of ten photoelectrochemical cells for water splitting: case study on the effects of temperature in hematite photoanodes

Sophia Haussener, Isaac Thomas Holmes-Gentle, Roberto Valenza, Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora

High-throughput testing of photoelectrochemical cells and materials under well-defined operating conditions can accelerate the discovery of new semiconducting materials, the characterization of the phenomena occurring at the semiconductor-electrolyte inter ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Geodesic Convolutional Neural Network Characterization of Macro-Porous Latent Thermal Energy Storage

Pascal Fua, Sophia Haussener, Pierre Bruno Baqué, Nithin Mallya, Pierre Mathieu Yvernay

High-temperature latent heat thermal energy storage with metallic alloy phase change materials (PCMs) utilize the high latent heat and high thermal conductivity to gain a competitive edge over existing sensible and latent storage technologies. Novel macrop ...

2023