The solar cell and the university “big return”

Nathalie Chamberland in the Métro newspaper

The Métro newspaper published yesterday, in its Careers / Training section, an article on Nathalie Chamberland, a master’s student in chemistry at UQAM, and at NanoQAM with Pr. Benoît Marsan.

Solar cell

Putting their knowledge to the benefit of the community is the bet made by the students participating in the Science takes the metro project. Every three weeks, Métro will introduce a new participant. Today, we meet Nathalie, a master’s student in chemistry at UQAM.

There is no age to go back to school. As part of her master’s, Nathalie, a 34-year-old young mother, helped design an electrochemical photovoltaic cell (EPC), a type of solar cell. “I was afraid I would not be up to it, but everything went very well,” she says. Fortunately, my partner supported me in my approach. ”

Nathalie was particularly interested in the development of a new electrolyte. Short course on battery 101: “Electric energy results from the movement of electrons between two electrodes, a photo-anode (positive) and a counter-electrode (negative), separated by an electrolytic solution (liquid or gel) containing redox species which transport electrons between the two electrodes, ”explains the student.

The research team did not finalize the assembly of a functional battery, but Nathalie still made interesting discoveries. “We have developed a transparent electrolyte that allows solar energy to reach the photo-anode more efficiently,” she says. Our first electrolyte was liquid, which increased the risk of leaks. So we produced it as a gel. Finally, we synthesized two new species of redox. ”

Back to University

These discoveries mark the end of an unorthodox academic journey. Nathalie enrolled in chemistry for the baccalaureate at Laval University about fifteen years ago. After a year, she realizes that she prefers to be a laboratory technician, which she will do for a year after having completed a technique. Then she went with her spouse to Ontario, where she taught elementary school as a supply teacher for three years.

It was upon her return to La Belle Province that she decided to pursue her university studies in chemistry. “Even though I didn’t teach science in Ontario, my experience gave me a taste for popular science,” she recalls. Now that I’ve finished my Masters, I’d like to teach college science. ”

Source: Metro