Master thesis: Development of a miniaturized interfacial contact resistance measurement setup for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer bipolar plate materials
The Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN) is an institute of Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, with a focus on storage technologies for renewable energies. As part of Prof. K. Mayrhofer’s research unit „Electrocatalysis” the group „Nanoanalysis of Electrochemical Processes” is mainly working on the proton exchange membrane water electrolysis.
We investigate the stability of bipolar plate materials for proton exchange water electrolyzers electrochemically by coupling a scanning flow cell on‑line to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (SFC-ICP-MS). This technique gives great insight about the time-resolved dissolution of bipolar plates. However, insights into the changes of the interfacial contact resistance (ICR) remain unclear, which can be increased due to the formation of a less-conductive oxide layer. The ICR plays an important role for operation and should be as low as possible to ensure good electrical contact between neighboring parts in a full cell. For this reason, the goal of the master thesis is to develop and validate a miniaturized ICR measurement setup that can be used for ex-situ ICR measurements before and after SFC-ICP-MS measurements.
You can start your master thesis earliest beginning of Mai. Place of work is Nuremberg.
We offer
an excellent, international and interdisciplinary working environment with leading experts in the fields of research. Flexibility to shape the master thesis’ topic to applicants' interests and qualifications.
We are looking for
motivated students with excellent grades in the fields of chemistry, physics, engineering (electrical, mechanical or chemical) or a similar discipline. Besides good scientific basics, appropriate English skills are required.
Are you interested?
Please write a short mail with a CV and your transcript of records attached to: l.fiedler@fz-juelich.de
