Advanced sample preparation and characterisation of fuel cell materials for increased fuel cell durability

This project relates to an 5-months scientific stay for PhD-student Axel B. Ofstad from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), NM, USA. The PhD-student?s work at LANL will focus on developing skills with respect to experimental characterisation techniques for identifying degradation mechanisms in the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). Furthermore, performance degradation of a series of PEMFCs will be explored as function of their power output characteristics. This work is highly relevant for the PhD-student's work as part of the on-going project at NTNU, IFE and SINTEF entitled "Increasing the Lifetime of PEM fuel cells". I t also fits well with the current activities carried out at the host institution LANL. Ofstad's stay at LANL will contribute directly to the on-going project but will also add substantial value for other projects in terms of knowledge transfer between LAN L and Norwegian R&D institutions NTNU, IFE and SINTEF.