Small is beautiful, but also useful: 10+ years of microfluidics for electrochemical processes
Speaker
David Fernandez Rivas
Professor at University of Twente
Co-Founder: BuBclean and Flowbeans
Abstract
Small is beautiful, but also useful: 10+ years of microfluidics for electrochemical processes
I will share a journey of more than a decade aimed at understanding and controlling bubble dynamics. The ‘trick’ we have used is employing microstructured electrode design to enhance electrochemical reaction efficiency and process intensification in energy systems. My group’s focus is on optimizing microfluidic interfaces and electrode architectures to reduce energy losses, improve mass transfer, and enable scalable renewable energy technologies. Beyond that, I will share how Knowledge, Persuasiveness and Empathy can help us achieve our engineering and scientific goals, with a more entrepreneurial mindset from whithin academy.
Bio
Prof. David Fernandez Rivas has worked on electrochemistry and process intensification, with a strong focus on microfluidics and bubble manipulation techniques. His research aims to achieve fundamental understanding and control of physicochemical phenomena at the microscale to enhance the efficiency of electrochemical systems. By integrating microfluidic strategies with patterned microelectrodes, he studies mass transfer during electrolysis, seeking innovations in electrochemical processes.
In process intensification, Prof. Fernandez Rivas emphasizes using microfluidics to scale down chemical operations sustainably and efficiently rather than relying on large-scale equipment. His work includes developing the BuBble Gun microfluidics platform, which controls bubble dynamics such as cavitation and jetting for applications ranging from coating microchannels to biomedical technologies. His research integrates sonochemistry, cavitation, and microfluidics to design novel chemical reactors and improve chemical process technologies.
In 2019, David obtained the European Research Council Starting Grant for his project BuBble Gun, aimed at penetrating microjets in soft substrates. David wrote the book Empathic Entrepreneurial Engineering, and he is inventor of a patent commercialized by the spin-off BuBclean (2013) of which he is cofounder. He also founded FlowBeams, a spin-off from the University of Twente (2021) to valorize his needle-free injection research and subsequent patents on microfluidic systems. In 2024, his FlowBeams team received the Transition grant from the European Innovation Council EIC and was honoree of the Consumer Electronic Show Las Vegas in Beauty and Cosmetics.
Selected prizes: Young Sonochemist Award: Japan Society of Sonochemistry (JSS, 2011). Pieter Langerhuizen Lambertuszoon Fonds prize (2016) awarded by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW). Engineer of the Year 2021, and the Prince Friso Award by the Royal Dutch Institute of Engineers (KIVI).
BSc.: 2004; MSc.: 2006 Nuclear Engineering, InSTEC, Havana, Cuba; PhD at the University of Twente UT (2012) and Professor (2021) in the Mesoscale Chemical Systems Group, UT. He is research affiliate at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (2017) and Visiting Professor at the Dermatology Department, Erasmus MC Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.