Postgraduate
Research
Opportunities
in
ULTRAMINIATURE
FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY
at
Cork Institute of Technology
&
Tyndall National Institute, University College
Cork
Funded PhD positions
Research in fabrication and characterisation of
novel ultraminiature fuel cells
Suitable for graduates in chemistry, materials
science, electronics, physics and related
disciplines
With electronic products becoming smaller and smaller, batteries are taking up more
and more of the overall size and weight of the products. This is because battery power
capacity does not follow a Moore’s Law type curve similar to electronics and the
search for improved and alternative power sources for electronic products is underway
worldwide. Fuel cells are among the technologies being investigated.
Researchers from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Cork Institute of
Technology and from Tyndall National Institute (www.tyndall.ie) at University
College Cork have recently secured joint funding to carry out research on fuel cell
technology. The Electrochemical Deposition and Micro-power Team of the
Microsystems Research Centre at Tyndall National Institute have developed a concept
for an ultra-miniature fuel cell based on microfabrication technology that promises to
have a higher power capacity and longer life than other fuel cell approaches. They are
therefore seeking a graduate with a chemistry or related background to carry out PhD
level research on fabrication of this fuel cell. In the Department of Electronic
Engineering at CIT, researchers have been working on methods of characterising and
predicting miniature battery lifetimes under the varying current loads of electronic
products. This work has been very successful in accurately predicting battery life and
they now plan to extend this work to characterisation of the electrical performance,
lifetime and reliability of the Tyndall micro-fuel cells and comparing these with other
battery and fuel cell technologies. They therefore are seeking a graduate with an
electronics, physics or related background to carry out PhD level research on this
topic.
The successful candidate in CIT will join a rapidly expanding community of 136
postgraduate research students at CIT, 25 of whom are carrying out research in the
Electronic Engineering in the fields of telecommunications, embedded systems,
wireless sensor networks and control engineering. The Department provides an
excellent environment for postgraduate study with opportunities for attending at
conferences, placements at other institutions and contacts with potential employers as
appropriate. The Department of Electronic Engineering has recently been awarded
Delegated Authority to award degrees to PhD level in recognition of the quality of
their research and postgraduate supervision.
The successful candidate at Tyndall will join one of Europe’s leading ICT research
centres. The Tyndall National Institute (Tyndall) was created in 2004, the objective
being to create a research institute which would become a focal point of Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) in Ireland, to support industry and academia
nationally and to increase the number of qualified graduate students for the
‘knowledge economy’. The strengths of the institute at the present time lie in the area
of photonics, electronics, materials and nanotechnologies and their applications for
life sciences, communications, power electronics and other industries. Research
programmes range from theoretical modelling and design to novel material,
nanotechnology, device processing and fabrication, packaging and integration; and
novel systems incorporating these new devices.
Details of both PhD opportunities are given below.
CIT
Prediction of battery electrical life under time varying electrical load conditions
requires characterisation and modelling of non-linear phenomena such as the recovery
effect. In the Department of Electronic Engineering we have been successful in
accurately predicting button and coin cell electrical life under a range of time varying
load conditions. In collaboration with Tyndall National Institute, this project will
extend the battery work to micro-power sources such as planar batteries and microfuel cells. The research will involve the characterisation and modelling of the
electrical life of commercially available batteries and fuel cells as well as those being
fabricated in Tyndall. Additionally, the reliability and failure mechanisms of the
micro-power sources will be investigated. The ultimate aim will be to develop micropower source models that can accurately predict their electrical life under a range of
time varying electrical loads, particularly those of wireless sensor systems.
For further information on this project, please contact Dr. John Barrett
john.barrett@cit.ie
TYNDALL
A position exists in the Electrochemical Deposition and Micropower Sources Team of
the Microsystems Research Centre at Tyndall National Institute, Cork, Ireland for a
Ph.D studentship to investigate microfuel cell fabrication and electrochemical test.
This is an Irish Government funded research project to investigate the
microfabrication of a fuel cell to power wireless sensor systems. The project will
investigate anode and cathode materials microfabrication, electrochemical
characterisation and full cell assembly on silicon based substrates. Our collaborators
from the Adaptive Wireless Systems Group in the Cork Institute of Technology
http://www.aws.cit.ie/index.htm will analyse the outputs from the fuel cells fabricated
in terms of their application in wireless sensor systems and device lifetime prediction.
Industry interaction will be through the Irish wireless sensor network - Wisen Ireland.
www.wisen-ireland.com
The successful candidate for this position will have a good undergraduate degree (2.1
or better) in chemistry or materials science. Background information is available at
http://www.tyndall.ie/facilities/cff/plating.htm
Please forward a detailed CV together with references and grades to
careers@tyndall.ie quoting ref JR-04. To apply for this post, complete the application
form and forward with a detailed curriculum vitae and references to:
HR Department
Tyndall National Institute,
Fax: +353-21-4904058
Lee
Maltings,
Prospect
Row,
Cork,
Ireland