Research Projects

Fuel Cell Research Projects 

Motivation: Increasing durability, reducing cost and increasing activity are the main motivators for PEM fuel cells:

  • Understanding catalyst degradation mechanisms during catalyst and support accelerated stress tests
  • Understanding degradation during start-up/shut-down
  • Degradation of Pt-alloy catalysts
  • HT-PEM fuel cells
  • Catalyst-ionomer interaction
  • Integration of PFAS-free materials as membranes and catalyst layers
  • Water and heat management in fuel cells with the focus on GDLs and MPLs design
  • Advanced diagnostic techniques development and modeling

Electrolyzers Research Projects

Motivation: Reducing IrOx loadings and understanding durability for PEM water electrolyzers; understanding overall metrics for performance for AEM water electrolyzers

  • Design of porous transport layers (PTLs) for effective water delivery and oxygen removal in the anodes of polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers
  • Understanding of pathways to reach low IrOx loadings, including degradation pathways
  • Integration of PGM-free transition-metal catalyst layers into PEM water electrolyzer catalyst layers
  • Understanding interfaces in AEM water electrolyzers
  • 3D modeling of transport within the PTLs and X-ray characterization

Battery Research Projects 

Motivation: Understand mechanisms of Li-metal dendrites growth; advanced diagnostic techniques for degradation of Li-ion batteries 

  • Operando x-ray CT for visualizing Li-metal dendrites growth in Li-metal batteries
  • Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) for probing Li and other metal distributions during battery cycling
  • Quality control through advanced characterization

Chemical Manufacturing Projects

Motivation: Decarbonization of chemical manufacturing industry

  • Cement production using electrochemical reactors
  • CO2 reduction within the electrolyzer reactors, optimizing local pH for Faradaic efficiency towards specific product