PhD position - Prediction of PEM water electrolyzer lifetime by multi-physics modeling

OPPORTUNITY DETAILS

Total reward

0 $

State University

CEA Tech

Area

Western Europe

Host Country

France

Deadline

31 Oct 2021

Study level

Doctoral Degree

Opportunity type

PhD

Specialities

Mathematics , Physics

Opportunity funding

Not funding

Eligible Countries

This opportunity is destined for all countries

Eligible Region

All Regions

SL-DRT-21-0838

RESEARCH FIELD

Advanced hydrogen and fuel-cells solutions for energy transition

ABSTRACT

The cost of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) remains the bottleneck for moving the technology to the market place. A tradeoff between the loading of the catalyst and the objective to reach 80 000 hours of lifetime with high efficiency is necessary. The future generation of MEA (Membrane electrode assembly) have a low loading of catalyst (0.4mg.cm² at the anode side) with a thin membrane. The effects of ageing phenomena become visible during the first thousand hours. Different strategies to improve the lifetime exist, from material improvement (catalyst loading, coating) to optimal operating strategies of the electrolyzer. The challenge is to estimate the gain of lifetime without running a full test (80000 hours). Some AST (Accelerating Stress Tests) are developed to evaluate the new developments on lifetime. The objectives of this PhD thesis is to improve the understanding of degradation mechanisms and predict the lifetime of PEMWE and in particular the catalyst and membrane degradations inside the MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly). CEA’s multi-physics and multi-scale modeling approach will be used, coupled with in-situ experimental data provided by or collected at NREL. In particular, the modeling of degradation mechanisms in MEA operation will be developed using CEA’s strong background on fuel cell modeling, including degradation mechanisms that lead to catalyst and membrane degradation. The following focus areas will be addressed:• Statistical analysis of experimental data to correlate the main degradation mechanism to the operating conditions • Development of the catalyst and membrane degradation models, based on existing CEA model• Validation of the degradation model based on existing experimental data. New tests will be defined and realized to better identified the model parametersThe final objective is to propose new AST for PEMWE. The validation of the new AST on experimental data will be performed.The thesis will be located at CEA Grenoble France, with several missions to NREL, Colorado, USA