Creating Order

The objective was to improve fuel cell performance via materials with engineered morphology. Contemporary transport layers (PTL/GDL) are based on repurposed carbon fiber paper and cloth technologies. Consequently, fuel cell designers are constrained to a small selection of products.

A new approach was needed. I created novel hardware, methods and materials to improve performance through purposefully designed microstructures. I adapted electrospinning technology to create layers with controlled morphology. The workflow comprised: polymer solution preparation; electrospinning; and thermal treatment. Layers were characterized ex-situ and in-situ.

My work spanned synthesis to application. It was the first demonstration of transport layers with controlled fiber diameters and alignments. It also revealed the importance of layer anisotropy for fuel cells in general, e.g. greater performance was observed with increasing alignment perpendicular to reactant distribution channels.

More information about this work is available here