At the invitation of professor Jiao Kui, vice President of the school of mechanical engineering, professor Meng Ni from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University will come to give an academic report. Your active participation is highly welcome.

Time for academic report: 15 May 2019 (Wednesday), 10:00 AM.

Report location：Hongyuan lecture hall, 37th building, school of mechanical engineering, Tianjin University. 

Report Topic:

Solid oxide fuel cells for efficient energy conversion.

Abstract：

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are promising electrochemical devices for efficient energy conversion. In addition to development of new materials, the design of fuel cell electrode microstructure and the flow field is critical to improve the SOFC performance and durability. In this talk, the research activities at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University on SOFCs will be summarized with a focus on modeling of SOFC. The methodology for SOFC modeling will be introduced. Then a few simulation studies will be presented, including electrode microstructure reconstruction and analysis, design of functionally graded electrodes and stack level simulation. Preliminary testing results on SOFC using various fuels will be also presented and discussed, including the use of renewable biogas, solid carbon, and plastic waste. The research needs of SOFC for future development will be discussed.   

About the speaker：

Prof. Meng Ni received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Hong Kong in 2007. He received Young Scientist Award in Engineering Science in the same year. He then worked at the University of Hong Kong for about 2 years as a post-doc fellow then joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in July 2009. He was promoted to an Associate Professor in July 2012 and a Full Professor and an Associate Head in July 2016. Prof. Ni conducted collaborative research at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany in 2017 as a Humboldt Fellow. Prof. Ni’s research focuses on solid oxide fuel cells for advanced energy conversion and Zinc-air rechargeable batteries for energy storage. His current H-index is 35. Prof. Ni is an active reviewer for over 60 academic journals. He is an Associate Editor for Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (Elsevier) since 2015 and a former Associate Editor for Science Bulletin from 2015-2017. Prof. Ni received Top Reviewer Award from Applied Energy in 2010. He received the Best Associate Editor Awards in 2016 and 2017.