Phd Studentship - Cambridge, United Kingdom - University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

Verified Company

Cambridge, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

As we strive to transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels, a number of alternative systems have risen in prominence, including electrification and the use of Hydrogen as a fuel.

Hydrogen is traditionally created via hydrolysis of water, and the efficiency of this process is greatly increased by adding electrolytes to the water to increase its electrical conductivity.

Alkaline electrolysers are considered to be the most mature type of hydrogen producers; however, there is still much room for improvement in efficiency, particularly due to issues around bubble formation.

Bubbles create issues by lingering on the electrodes and blocking reactant access, or though inducing concentration overpotential from micro-convection during bubble growth and departure.

In this project, we will investigate the processes behind nucleation, growth and eventual separation of these bubbles.

We will look at this at macroscopic, microscopic and nanoscopic lengthscales and at timescales from below ms to many seconds, and under a variety of industrially-relevant operating conditions including appropriate flow regimes.

This will assist in the move towards sustainable energy sources, as the current state of Hydrogen production is severely hampered by this issue.

This work is part of a larger project between the Department of Engineering and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows, and is funded by BP-ICAM (International centre for advanced materials).

The project brings together both theory and experiment, with the ultimate aims of:

Understanding bubble nucleation, growth and separation processes and being able to model them;

Understanding the role of the electrode structure, composition and surfaces, and using that to design and create surfaces that facilitate rapid removal of bubbles.

The work to be carried out in this phase of the project will be largely based on Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) -based mapping and characterisation of the electrode structures, combined with advanced functional property imaging (surface potential, grain structure, chemical functionality).

This will aim to determine the surface properties which lead to formation of bubbles at specific surface sites, and the impact of the modification of surface free energy.

We will then use this information to design and fabricate electrodes with the intention of actively controlling where and how bubbles form.