Characterisation of the porous media used in PEM fuel cells

Supervisors: Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, Professor Lin Ma, Dr Kevin Hughes

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are one of the most promising clean power conversion technology that has been increasingly adopted by several countries to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are still some challenges that must be overcome to increase the deployment of the technology, such as water flooding and low durability.

Fuel cell modelling is an effective way to reduce the amount of the experimentation needed to test new designs and materials. However, the prediction of the modelled fuel cell relies on a large number of input parameters such as the gas permeability, the electrical conductivity, the diffusivity and the contact angle.

The main objective of this project is to precisely estimate these input parameters experimentally in order to enhance the predictions of the modelled PEM fuel cell.

For further information contact Professor Derek B Ingham (d.ingham@sheffield.ac.uk).