Ishanka Dedigama's Webpage
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Postgraduate Researcher Phone: +44 (0)20 7679 7683 Email: ishanka. dedigama.09@ucl.ac.uk |
Address: Department of Chemical Engineering University College London Torrington Place London WC1E 7JE United Kingdom |
Ishanka received her M.Eng. from the Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL in 2009; her research project looked at IGCC power plant and high temperature water splitting reactors.
Research project
Title: Novel Diagnostic techniques in electrochemical power systems
Supervisor: Dr Dan Brett
Although water electrolysis to produce hydrogen (and oxygen) has been known for around 200 years and has the advantage of producing extremely pure hydrogen, its applications are often limited to small scale and unique situations where access to large scale hydrogen production plant is not possible or economical. They are employed as oxygen generators for life-support systems in submarines and spacecrafts and a small scale hydrogen supplier for gas chromatographs and other laboratory experiments.Commercial electrolysis cells are also used to provide hydrogen for cooling electricity generators.
This project aims to develop a range of diagnostic techniques to examine the internal working of operational solid polymer electrolysis cells (SPECs). These techniques will include internal optical visualisation techniques, localised current mapping and localised electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to examine membrane conductivity and electrode kinetics/mass transport processes. The results obtained will allow the models being developed elsewhere, in collaboration with Proton Energy (USA), to be and validated and refined. Further novel diagnostic techniques will be developed that will look explicitly at the issues relevant to SPECs such as 2-phase flow. Armed with these techniques, the effect of operational parameters (temperature, pressure, flow rate, net current, etc.) and hardware modifications (channel/land dimensions, flow field design, incorporation of hydrophobic porous layers, etc.) will be investigated with a view to improving water electrolysis efficiency.
Page last modified on 15 sep 11 09:42
