Fuel cells
ESTP researchers are particularly interested in the transport processes related to fuel cell operation: mass transport, heat transfer, electrochemical/chemical reactions, as well as the interactions of these processes with mechanical stress and strain. Current research topics include:
- Diagnostics and sensor development: We are developing fibre-based sensors to measure local temperature, humidity and chemical composition (H2O2). We have several fuel cell test stations and an environmental chamber for cell tests with these fibre-based sensors.
- Modeling and simulation: We work on multiscale, multiphysics modeling and simulation to elucidate the coupled transport downtown the sub-micron length scale. Our recent investigation also extended into a variety of topics including degradation issues of fuel cell materials, fabrication of catalyst layer, contact resistance and interfacial properties.
Laboratory facilities
Hardware:
- Fuel cell test stations;
- fibre optics interrogator and accessories;
- environmental chamber
Computational tools and resources:
- Comsol, Ansys Fluent; Compute Canada (Westgrid, SharcNet)
- In-house codes: Pore-scale model (PSM), extended finite element method (xFEM), multiple relaxation time lattice Boltzmann method (MRT-LBM) are being developed to compute effective properties of composite materials, flow-particle interactions, and two-phase flows respectively.