SIBAE (‘Sociedad Iberoamericana de Electroquímica’) invites to the 23rd edition of the biennial congress that convokes researchers and students from mainly Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. This is the first time that a SIBAE congress will take place in Peru.

Among the invited speakers, Prof. Anders Hagfeldt (Director of Laboratory of Photomolecular Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland) will held a conference on “The versatility of mesoscopic solar cells”, whereas Prof. Lauro Kubota (Institute of Chemistry at Unicamp, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, Campinas, SP, Brazil) will present strategies for the development of electrochemical biosensors in point-of-care devices.

More information: http://sibae2018peru.com/es/home/

Research on Photo-electrochemistry in Peru

In the past, research on electrochemical applications was not intensively developed in Peru. Just some few research centers located in a couple of the most important Peruvian universities developed studies in corrosion and in other branches related to electrochemistry, such as sensors, water treatment, and surface modification. However, since 2010, researchers returning to Peru after having completed their postgraduate studies abroad are leading several new groups.

In the second half of 2017, the National Council of Science and Technology of Peru (CONCYTEC) granted financial support to 37 research projects, out of 300 proposals. Only one of them was related to electrochemistry. The project titled “Preparation and characterization of amorphous hydrogenated SiC-based photoelectrodes for hydrogen production assisted by sunlight”, which was submitted by the ‘Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú’ (PUCP), was among the selected projects. It involves research in materials science, photo-electrochemistry and corrosion (electrochemical characterization).

This project constitutes the starting point of a promising research subject, as large regions in South Peru exhibit – on average – a very high annual sum of global horizontal irradiation (GHI), one of the highest worldwide.

(Source: Geni, http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/renewable-energy-resources/world/latin-america/solar-latin-america/solar-peru.shtml )

Rubí (Moguegua), the largest photovoltaic plant of Peru, started operations in March 2018 (Source: Radio Americana, http://radioamericana.com.pe/portal/2017/07/15/moquegua-en-mayo-del-2018-inauguraran-la-planta-de-energia-solar-mas-grande-del-pais/ )

Contact person: Dr. Andrés Guerra (guerra.jorgea@pucp.edu.pe )