Fuel cell and hydrogen technology

Supervisors: Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, Professor Lin Ma, Professor Derek Ingham and Dr Kevin Hughes.

Fuel cells have been considered as one of the promising technologies for the next generation energy production systems, because of their high energy efficiency and low pollutant emission. However, fuel cell technology is still in its early stage of development. Many scientifically challenging problems have to be solved in order to make it cost effective and thus commercially viable.

In this project, an experimental investigation into the performance of different designs of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) will be undertaken; this will involve the manufacture and testing of different PEMFC designs, along with the manufacture and testing of novel non-metal based catalysts to replace the use of platinum, a major cost component of current PEMFCs.

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