Seung Woo Lee Chemical Engineering/PPST Grad Student B.S. Chemical Engineering, Seoul National University, Korea Co-Advisor: Prof. Yang Shao-Horn (Mechanical Engineering)

Layer-by-layer(LBL) methods are currently being adapted by our group for battery and fuel cell applications; recent work in this area has been focused on hydrogen fuel cells, particularly in the formation of composite membranes for the MEA. This nanoscale approach, when combined with the use of engineered electrode materials, can address some of the existent challenges in low temperature hydrogen and direct methanol fuel cells. We are tuning of the MEA/electrode interface for hydrogen PEM and DMFC fuel cells through the construction of nanometer scale thick intermediate layers that present a gradient of ionically conducting polyelectrolyte, inorganic reactive nanoparticles, and conducting polymer. This project is sponsored by the Dupont-MIT Alliance (DMA).