Thesis Topic
Nanoscale Manipulation of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Semiconductors via Focused Electron Beam Induced Etching
Thesis
The need to transition to a clean and sustainable energy future is becoming increasingly urgent, with climate change and other environmental threats to the health and well-being of people and the planet. Hydrogen based electrochemical energy storage systems are promising to realize clean, large-scale, and long-term energy storage, utilization, and transportation. The hydrogen generation system plays a critical role in the future hydrogen energy systems. Especially, proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) are widely regarded as an advanced and practical solution for next-generation hydrogen production. Nevertheless, improving energy conversion efficiency and durability with affordable costs are still long-standing challenges, which can be realized by the optimization of porous transport medias. In this proposal, we proposed a Ti-based integrated porous transport layer (IPTL) electrode via a low-cost tape casting technique to significantly reduce the contact interfaces in the whole stack level for enhanced energy conversion efficiency and durability. Five components can be integrated together to form an all-in-one porous electrode. By the IPTL design, the contact interfaces between components can be reduced from 8 to 0, which will significantly eliminate the interface-related energy loss and degradation. At the end of the project, the total weight and volume of components are supposed to be 50% lower than conventional component designs with improved performance and durability.
Biography
Weitian Wang is currently a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on the mass transport related topics in energy conversion devices in the aspect of mechanism study and component design. He employed in-situ visualization techniques to investigate the bubble dynamics and mass transport mechanisms in electrochemistry devices. Based on related mechanisms, various porous transport layers and electrodes have been successfully developed by him. Additionally, he has authored or co-authored about 25 peer-reviewed papers.