Next IMPRS Seminar - Online Talk by Prof. Dr. Iryna Zenyuk

“Understanding oxygen distribution in the porous transport layer of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEME) using x-ray computed tomography”

March 24, 2022

Presented by Prof. Dr. Iryna Zenyuk Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and Associate Director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC)

We are pleased to announce that upon the invitation of Haashir Altaf, one of our IMPRS doctoral researchers, Prof. Dr. Iryna Zenyuk from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) will present her work on “Understanding oxygen distribution in the porous transport layer of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEME) using x-ray computed tomography” during our next IMPRS seminar.

Iryna Zenyuk's work concentrates on the Department of Energy (DOE) target of reaching 1$ cost for 1 kg of H2 production in one decade. For this purpose, the cost of green hydrogen generation needs to decrease. In this context, IrOx is used as an electrocatalyst in anode electrode of proton exchange membrane electrolyzers (PEME). Its loading must decrease below 2 mg/cm2 to reach the cost targets for electrolysis. One of the hurdles of catalyst layers with low IrOx loading is the low in-plane electric conductivity, as IrOx is not supported by carbon or other conductive additives. Therefore, the design of porous transport layers (PTLs) becomes critical to ensure a good interface contact area with the catalyst as well as optimal oxygen removal from the catalyst. In an earlier study, Zenyuk, together with other researchers, showed that PTLs with intermediate porosities of ~60 % achieved this goal. In this work, they used operando x-ray computed tomography to visualize morphology and oxygen transport inside the PTLs for the cells having various catalyst loadings and various PTLs (sintered and fiber). Using a staining agent of NaI they were able to differentiate between water and oxygen. Oxygen transport pathways and oxygen content within the PTLs were studied using various cell configurations and current densities.

Iryna Zenyuk holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering. She continued her studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned her M.S. and Ph.D. Her graduate work focused on the fundamental understanding of meso-scale interfacial transport phenomena and electric double layers in fuel cells. Iryna Zenyuk was a postdoc at LBNL (Berkeley Lab) in Dr. Adam Weber’s group from 2014 to 2015 investigating water-management in PEFCs using x-ray CT and modeling. She joined Tufts University as an Assistant Professor from 2015 to 2018 and moved to UC Irvine in 2018. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at UCI. She is also an Associate Director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC), where her mission is to accelerate the development and deployment of fuel cell technology and fuel cell systems.

Iryna has published more than 70 journal publications in the electrochemical technologies area and has given more than 80 invited presentations. She hopes to develop technologies to decarbonize difficult sectors, such as chemical manufacturing, aviation, shipping, long-haul transportation to reach a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

If you want to take part in this interesting talk, please write a mail to imprs@mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de for the login details.

  Everyone interested is welcome and invited to join the talk!

  • Date: April 6, 2022
  • Time: 3 pm (CEST)
  • Place: online

 

 

 

 

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