Topic: Material Aspects of Thermal and Water Management for PEM Fuel Cells

Speaker: Prof. Yun Wang, ASME Fellow

　　      University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697 

Time: 9:30-11:00, June 27 (Thursday), 2019

Venue: Room 468, Lee Hsun Building

Abstract: Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been regarded as a potential power source for various applications due to its noteworthy features of high efficiency and zero emission. Its performance and dynamics are controlled by electrochemically coupled transport processes, including fluid flow, phase change, species transport, energy conservation, and proton/electron conduction. Materials play an important role in PEM fuel cell functions, including catalyst activities, water removal, ice formation, and heat transfer. In this talk, I will present several fundamental aspects related to fuel cell materials and water/thermal management that the UC Irvine has original contributions, including:

　　1.) Multi-layer catalyst layer design: theory and analysis.

　　2.) Role of PTFE loading and surface treatment in two-phase flow.

　　3.) Porous media flow field, such as metal foams.

　　4.) Materials for cold-start of PEM fuel cell.

　　5.) Gas diffusion layer materials: structure reconstruction.

Bio：Yun Wang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanics and Engineering Science from Peking University in 1998 and 2001, respectively. He went to the Pennsylvania State University where he received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006. Wang joined the MAE (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) faculty at the University of California, Irvine in 2006. Wang has produced over 70 publications in PEM fuel cell, including a book on PEM Fuel Cell Water and Thermal Management Fundamentals in 2013 and a PEM fuel cell review paper in 2011 (which has been cited over 1,959 google scholar times). He received a few awards, including the prestigious Distinguished President's Award and Outstanding Educator Award from Orange County Engineering Council, the Seasky Scholarship from Dalian University of Technology, China, and the 2011-2012 Applied Energy Certificate of Excellence: Most Downloaded Authors. Several of his seminal works are highly cited in the major fuel cell journals. His 45 journal papers published in 2005-17 have been cited over 4,700 times. Scopus (last access on 10/3/2018) shows one first-authored paper is the most cited in the history of Applied Energy since 1975 (among 12,590 papers). Wang served as Track chair/co-chair, session chair/co-chair, conference chair and committee member for many international conferences of fuel cells, thermal energy, and engineering. Wang is currently Professor at the UC Irvine.