Subsecond Operando X-ray CT Imaging of Liquid Water in Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) are increasingly drawing attention as a prominent candidate for tackling clean energy crisis due to their relatively high energy efficiency and environment friendly products.
Image: Taken at Swiss Light Source (2019)

SNF PhD Project at
Paul Scherrer Insitute

Water Transport Behaviour in Operando PEFC Gas Diffusion Layers

Increasing levels of liquid saturation in GDLs often lead to insufficient gas delivery hence cell performance drops. A thorough understanding of underlying impact factors of GDLs and their influences on water management is desired.
Image: H.Xu et al. J. Power Sources (2021)

Co-project with
Toyota Motor Europe

Water Management Optimization via In situ Gas Purge of PEFCs

In a sub-zero startup scenario, excessive liquid water imposes ice formation and volume expansion inside the all critical components and causes severe damage hence performance and durability losses. To preclude these effects, one of the common practice is dry gas purge after cell shutdown.
Image: H.Xu, PhD Dissertation, ETH Zurich (2021)

Co-project with
Swiss Light Source

Thermo-responsive Copolymer/ Metal Oxide for Magnetic Sensor Application

Nanostructured polymer-metal oxide composites are a current research area of great importance due to its highlight applications in sensors, optics, catalysts and drug delivery.
Image: H.Xu, Master Thesis, TU München (2016)

Master Project at
Tech. Univ. of Munich

Application of Mesoporous SnO2 Materials in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells and Lithium Batteries

Photoelectric conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized Solar Cells were enhanced by adding a mesoporous Tin dioxide scattering layer to the Titanium dioxide photoanode.
Image: H.Xu, Bachelor Thesis, Beijing Jiaotong Univ. (2016)

Bachelor Project at
Beijing Transport Univ.

Design and Construction of the Test-Stand for Split and Delay Line at European XFEL

Nowadays, the way to study these kinds of fast non-equilibrium dynamics is ultra-fast X-ray pump – X-ray probe experiment, for which the split and delay line (SDL) is indispensable.
Image: H.Xu, Internship Report, European XFEL GmbH (2015)

Intern Project at
European XFEL GmbH

Modelling of Cyanobacteria Dynamics for YuQiao Reservoir in Tianjin, China

As it is the only reservoir in Tianjin, the third biggest city in China, Yuqiao reservoir served as the main drinking water source for more than four million Tianjin residents. However, it suffers from seasonal Cyanobacteria outbreak caused water pollution.
Image: H.Xu, Trainne Report, École des Ponts ParisTech (2015)

Project Trainne at
École des Ponts ParisTech

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