Postdoc De Wei Ni, DTU Energy Conversion, has been granted 2162880 DKK by The Danish Council for Independent Research, Technology and Production Sciences, for the project ‘Mechanical reinforcement of ceramic/metallic components for high temperature application by electrospun ceramic nanofibers’.
The grant has granted as a DFF-Individual postdoc scholarship.
“I’m very happy that I got this funding as it allows me to carry out some research to implement my ideas”, says a jubilant De Wei Ni, who couldn’t quite believe that it was true, when he was told of the grant.
“It’s really a big surprise and Christmas gift for me. Here, I would like to say thanks to my colleagues for their help during my application.”
His project aims to develop mechanical reinforced ceramic/metallic supports for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and other electrochemical devices operating at high temperatures.
“In many cases where functional materials are used for mechanical support, it is not possible to modify their composition to make them stronger without altering their properties detrimentally”, explains De Wei Ni.
His project will change this. The reinforcement is realized by using continuous ceramic nanofibers with designed composition, which will be done by employing electrospinning which is a versatile and inexpensive technique. The focus is on the nanofibers-matrix integration processing, and how the ceramic nanofibers influence sintering and high temperature mechanical properties of the reinforced components.
This is expected to have an outcome useful in material processing and other strategic technologies where mechanical reinforcement is needed.
The project runs until the end of 2015.