Oliver Rodríguez, MRSC

About me

I am an Electrochemist who specializes in the use of (ultra)microelectrodes as an electroanalytical tool. I currently work on automating electrochemical methodologies by including data analysis and machine learning with the goal of having a fully unsupervised electrochemical laboratory for applications in energy conversion and storage. I rely heavily on simulations (Soft Potato and Comsol) and programming. In my free time I develop Soft Potato, an Electrochemistry simulator. I am also an avid user of GNU/Linux. Contact me through Twitter or through my Soft Potato email: oliver.rdz@softpotato.xyz.

Employment

Higher Scientist, National Physical Laboratory, London, UK, Feb 2023 - present.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Beckman Institute, UIUC, USA, Feb 2021 - Jan 2023.

Dr. Joaquin Rodriguez-Lopez: "High throughput electrochemical characterization of redox species".

Education

Graduate degree in Computer Science, University of London, UK, Oct 2023 - present.
Ph.D. in Electrochemistry, University of Southampton, UK, Sep 2015 - Nov 2019.
- Dr. Guy Denuault: "Transient studies of oxygen species adsorbed on platinum microelectrodes". Link.
M.Sc. in Manufacturing Systems, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, Jan 2013 - May 2015.
- Dr. Marcelo Videa: "Electrochemical synthesis of TiO₂ nanotubes by potentiostatic anodization of titanium foils in a non-corrosive electrolythic bath"
B.Sc. in Engineering Physics, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, Aug 2007 - Dec 2012.
- Dr. Jorge Luis Menchaca: "Analysis of cement pastes and biological samples by atomic force microscopy".
- Dr. Oscar Martinez, Dr. Alex Elias: "Reduction of the vibrations of a Shunt reactor".

Awards

Poster prize from Symposium 18. ISE Conference, Belgrade Oline, 2020.
ECS travel grant to attend AiMES, Cancun, Mexico, 2018.
RSC travel grant to attend ECS conference, New Orleans, USA, 2017.
First place, PhD student poster competition, School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, 2017.
Second place, Master thesis in Electrochemistry, SMEQ, Monterrey, Mexico, 2016.
CONACYT-I2T2, PhD scholarship, Monterrey, Mexico, 2015.
CONACYT, MSC Scholarship, Monterrey, Mexico, 2013.

Publications

14 - E. Dickinson, O. Rodriguez, "Modelling catalyst layer performance in device scale polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell simulation", Journal of the Electrochemical Society.

DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/ad5408

13 - H. Sheng, J. Sun, O. Rodriguez, et al. "Autonomous closed-loop mechanistic investigation of molecular electrochemistry via automation", Nature Communications.

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47210-x

12 - I. Oh, M. A. Pence, N. G. Lukhanin, O. Rodriguez, C. M. Schroeder, J. Rodriguez-Lopez. "The Electrolab: an open source, modular platform for automated characterization of redox-active electrolytes", Device. In press.

DOI: 10.1016/j.device.2023.100103

11 - A. Mishra, D. Sarbapalli, O. Rodriguez, J. Rodriguez-Lopez. "Electrochemical imaging of interfaces in energy storage via scanning probe methods: techniques, applications and prospects", Annu. Rev. Anal. Chem., vol. 16, p. 93-115.

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anchem-091422-110703

10 - O. Rodriguez, M. A. Pence, J. Rodriguez-Lopez. "Hard Potato: a Python library to control commercial potentiostats and to automate electrochemical experiments", Anal. Chem, vol. 95, p. 4840-4845, Mar 2023.

DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c04862

9 - J. Cabana, T. Alaan, G. W. Crabtree, O. Rodriguez, et al. "NGenE 2022: Electrochemistry for Decarbonization", ACS Energy Letters, vol. 8, p. 740-747, Dec 2022.

DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c02587

8 - O. Rodriguez. "Soft Potato: an open source electrochemical simulator and toolkit", ChemRxiv.

DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-4bs3w

7 - M. A. Pence, O. Rodriguez, N. G. Lukhanin, C. M. Schroeder, J. Rodriguez-Lopez. "Automated measurement of electrogenerated redox species degradation using multiplexed interdigitated electrode arrays", ACS Measurement Science Au, in press. Open access. Invited.

DOI: acsmeasuresciau.2c00054

6 - Z. Angeles-Olvera, A. Crespo-Yapur, O. Rodriguez, J. L. Cholula-Diaz, L. M. Martinez, M. Videa, "Nickel-based electrocatalysts for water electrolysis", Energies, vol. 15, 1609, Feb 2022. Open Access and Preprint.

DOI: 10.3390/en15051609

5 - O. Rodriguez and G. Denuault. "The influence of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on Pt oxide electrochemistry", ChemElectroChem, vol. 8, p. 3525, Aug 2021. Invited contribution to Prof. Marcin Opallo's Festschrift.

DOI: 10.1002/celc.202100710

4 - O. Rodriguez and G. Denuault. "The electron transfer kinetics of adsorbed species derived by sampled current voltammetry", Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, vol. 882, p. 115021, Feb 2021.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jelechem.2021.115021

3 - C. O. Soares, O. Rodriguez, G. Buvat, M. Duca, S. Garbarino, D. Guay, G. Denuault and A. C. Tavares, "Sampled current voltammetry for kinetic studies on materials unsuitable for rotating discs or microelectrodes: application to the oxygen reduction reaction in acidic medium", Electrochimica Acta, p. 136946, Aug. 2020.

DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2020.136946

2 - O. Rodriguez-Martinez, L. M. Martinez and M. Videa, "Electropolishing and anodization of titanium in water/ethylene glycol baths for the production of TiO₂ nanotubes", Journal of Nanoparticle Research, vol. 22, p. 1, May 2020.

DOI: 10.1007/s11051-020-04824-8

1 - E. Ortega, O. Rodriguez-Martinez, M. Figueroa-Labastida, A. A. Villa-Pulido, A. Sanchez-Fernandez, R. Cue-Sampedro, M. A. Garcia-Pinilla and J. L. Menchaca, "Long-term influence of chitin concentration on the resistance of cement pastes determined by atomic force microscopy", Physica Status Solidi (a), vol. 213, p. 3110, Jul 2016.