Renewable Energy Resources Laboratory
About RERL
Renewable Energy Resources Laboratory (RERL) is located at 3107 Engineering Gateway in the UC Irvine. It was established in 2006 with research focuses on fuel cell, new battery, hydrogen storage, advanced heat transfer, and other renewable energy, as well as new materials and nano-structured surfaces for energy application. RERL currently hosts a few state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities to characterize interface, nano-structure, energy conversion, and heat transfer, and evaluate new material performance and advanced fabrication methods. In past years, the Lab has developed advanced modeling and numerical tools for scientifically based design and controls; new fundamental understanding of reaction interface performance; and advanced heat transfer devices for new energy.
Research Activities
1). Coupling of ion transport, fluid flow, and electrochemistry in electrochemical power & storage, including fuel cells, batteries, and hydride beds
2). Complex multiphase flow, species transport, shockwaves, and heat transfer
3). Advanced modeling: multi-D formulation, stochastic modeling, VOF (volume of fluid) simulation, and direct numerical simulation;
4). Large-scale parallel computation of fluid flows and electrochemically coupled transport problems (e.g. >25 million gridpoints)
5). Surface treatment & new material using emerging techniques; Material characterization using Optical, SEM, Xray, Neutron Imaging, and TEM;
6). Advanced cooling for high-power systems, fuel cells and CPUs; Efficient cooling for human bodies, e.g. brain and muscles;
7). State of the art experimental diagnostics & testing: microfluidics, heat transfer, and electrochemical systems.
8.) Plasma/shockwave capturing using 3-D computational method for LIBS; and material characterization/quantification using LIBS technology
9.) Battery voltage and lifetime prediction, and battery’s species transport relevant to health
10.) MD study of oxygen transport at reaction interface and water
***Projects and Achievements
a. Develop a 3-D multiphase flow model for MPLs and GDLs of PEM fuel cells and validate against 3-D neutron radiography data;
b. Develop theories for two-phase flow in fuel cell’s gas flow channels, including droplet dynamics and two-phase flow, along with experimental, imaging, and theory validation;
c. Advanced cooling & heat transfer devices for fuel cells and Li-ion battery;
d. Membraneless desalination microbial fuel cells (with Prof. Jiang);
e. Fundamental development regarding thin-film formation and impacts in Li-air batteries;
f. 3-D flow battery theory and model development;
h. LIBS for water vapor, Nafion, and Pt quantification;
i. First propose the concept of porous media flow fields for fuel cells (used in Toyota Mirai);
j. Develop highly efficient cooling film and 24 hr ~1 W portable power generator;
k. PEMEC model and code development (licensed to Envision Energy at Boston)
Facilities (major equipment)
Comprehensive Electrochemical Test Units
Professional Vacuum Chamber and Environmental Chamber (humid environmental);
Mass Flow, Temperature, and Humid Control Units;
Surface Treatment and Thin Layer Fabrication Units;
Frequency Response Analyzer (0.01-100,000 Hz);
NI Data Acquisition and Pressure/Temperature Sensors; High Resolution Microscopies with Camera (>3); Parallel Computation Cluster (48 parallel job); Electrolysis Chamber and Hydrogen Storage Chamber; Microfluidic Pump; Press (max: 20 tons) and Micro-gram Scale; High Temperature Furnaces; Experimental-Scale Wind Turbine and Tunnel; High-Precision Magnetic Controller;
Thermal Conductivity Measurement Unit; Vacuum Furnace; Scientific Lab Microwave
Personel
Director: Prof. Yun Wang
*Research Scientist: Girija Thesma Chandran (female), Sung Chan Cho, Qin Chen, Lanying Xu (female), Yiheng Pang
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*Graduates: Bongjin Seo, Daniela Fernanda Ruiz Diaz, Yanfeng Hai, Yiheng Pang, Jeff Mishler, Sung Chan Cho, James Lewis, Yuan Hao, Jingtian Wu,
Liem Pham, Mehernosh Gundevia, Amine Abdellah-el-hadj, Limiao Wang, Yajing Sui, Liuyi Yang, Xu Zheng, Xu Huang, Bo Zheng, Jixin Chen, Xuhui Feng, , Vu Ly, Amirhossein Nourizadeh, April Wu, Siwei Wang, Xavier Cordobes Adroher, Pengjie Tian, Dongyang Li, Peixin He, Zheng Guan, Yushi Zhang
Zhiqiang Niu, Guobin Zhang, Zhiming Bao, Linhao Fan, Jieyang Zhou, Guofu Ren, Ning Wang
———-
*Undergraduates: Yu Hua Tseng; Guilherme Porto Vasconcellos; Runqi Wang, Runlin Wang, Qihao Liu, Xu Zheng, Alex Liu, Xiaoqian Wang, Jian Wang, Titian Lu, Chih-I Cheng (female), Guohao Liu, Yuzhou Shen, Ye Tian, Junfeng Wu, Shennan Fei (female), Haoli He, Jiayu Wu, Zheng Guan, Yushi Zhang, April Wu….
———
*High-school students: Keven Ni (2009 summer, admit to UC Berkeley); Vanessa Mechem (2016 summer, admit to Caltech), Liz Zhao (2023 summer, admit to TBD)
Invited/Keynote/Plenary Talks (2022-24)
2024 Y. Wang, Mechanical and Material Aspects in PEM Fuel Cell R&D, The 12th Asia Conference on Mechanical and Materials Engineering (ACMME 2024), Kyoto, Japan, June 14-17, 2024. (Invited Keynote Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Advancing next-generation proton-exchange membrane fuel cell development in multi-physics transfer, 6th International Conference on Energy Systems and Electrical Power, Wuhan, June 21, 2024. (Keynote Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Porous Media Flow Field for High-Performance Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, 3rd International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT2024), Chongqing, June 29, 2024. (Keynote Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Porous Media Flow Field for Next-Generation Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, 16th Int. Green Energy Conference ( IGEC-XVI), Ningbo, July 1, 2024. (Plenary Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Mechanical Aspects in PEM Fuel Cell R&D, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, July 3, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Advancing next-generation proton-exchange membrane fuel cell development in thermal aspects, Tsinghua University, Beijing, July 5, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, PEM fuel cell and electrolysis cell technologies and hydrogen infrastructure development, Huairou Laboratory, Beijing, July 8, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Porous Media Flow Field for High-Performance Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Peking University, Beijing, July 9, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Recent Progress of PEM Fuel Cell and Electrolysis Cell and Hydrogen Infrastructure Development, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, July 12, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, PEM Fuel/Electrolysis Cells and Hydrogen Infrastructure Development, Tianjin University, Tianjin, July 15, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Modeling of PEM Fuel Cell, The 9th Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems/The 11th International Conference on Electronics Engineering and Technology, Dalian, July 19, 2024. (Keynote Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, PEM Fuel/Electrolysis Cells and Hydrogen Infrastructure Development, SooChow University, SuZhou, August 9, 2024. (Invited Talk)
2024 Y. Wang, Recent Progress in PEM Fuel Cell Research and Development, 4th International Conference on Energy Engineering and Power Systems, HangZhou, August 10, 2024. (Invited Plenary Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, Fundamentals, Materials, and Machine Learning of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Technology, June 30-July 2, 2023, Dali, China. (Invited Keynote Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, 4th 2023 International Conference on Intelligent Computing, Automation and Applications [ICAA2023], June 23, 2023, Wuhan, China. (Invited Keynote: virtual)
2023 Y. Wang, PEM Fuel Cell and Electrolysis Cell Technologies and Hydrogen Infrastructure Development, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Jun. 20, 2023, Shanghai, China. (Invited Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Research and Development at UC Irvine, Jun. 8, 2023, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. (Invited Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, Machine Learning and Physics-based Modeling of PEM Fuel Cells, 9th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Automation Technology, June 9-11 2023,Dalian, China. (Invited Keynote Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, Material and fundamental aspects in PEM fuel cell development, Xi’an University of Technology, July 18, 2023, Xian, China. (Invited Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, Towards Ultralow Platinum Loading Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, 5th Int'l Conference on Catalysis, July 15, 2023, Guilin, China. (Invited Keynote: Virtual)
2023 Y. Wang, Electrode Material Design for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells, 3rd International Conference on Electronic Materials and Information Engineering (EMIE 2023), July 15, 2023, Guangzhou, China. (Invited keynote)
2023 Y. Wang, PEM Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Station Network Development for Automobiles, July 13, 2023, Tongjin University, Shanghai, China. (Invited Talk)
2023 Y. Wang, PEM fuel cell and electrolysis cell technologies and hydrogen infrastructure development, Int. Congress on Energy Chemistry and Engineering (ICECE2023), July 22, 2023, Chengdu, China. (Invited Keynote)
2023 Y. Wang, Deep Learning from 3D Multiphysics Simulation for Operational Optimization and Control of PEM Fuel Cell, 6th Int. Conference on Power and Smart Grid (ICPSG 2023), July 22, 2023, Chengdu, China. (Invited Keynote)
2023 Y. Wang, Machine Learning Aspect in PEM fuel cell research and development, 4th Int conference on Energy and AI, Aug 10-12, 2023, Qinghai, China. (Invited Plenary Virtual)
2023 Y. Wang, Porous Flow Field for Next-Generation Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, July 7, 2023, Ningbo East Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, PEM fuel cell and electrolysis cell technologies and hydrogen infrastructure development, Nov. 19, 2022, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China. (Invited Talk: virtual)
2022 Y. Wang, Machine Learning for PEM Fuel Cell Development, 3rd Novel Intelligent & Leading Emerging Sciences International Conference, Oct, 22-24, 2022, Cairo, Egypt. (Invited Keynote Talk: virtual)
2022 Yun Wang, Fundamentals of PEM Fuel Cells for Transportation Application, International Academic Exchange Conference on Foundation Engineering of High-rise Buildings and Transportation Civil Engineering Technology, Aug. 28-29, 2022, Binzhou University, China. (Invited talk: virtual)
2022 Yun Wang, Fundamental Aspects of Air Cathode Design for Lithium-air Battery, 6th Int. Symp. on Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion (mESC-IS 2022), July 5-8, 2022, Island of Brač, Croatia. (Plenary Talk: virtual)
2022 Y. Wang, PEM fuel cells for automobiles, 2022 CESASC Convention, Pacific Palms Resort, City of Industry, CA, June 26, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Electrode Design for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells, Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds ICCOM, May 30, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Fundamentals and Materials for PEM Fuel Cells, Torino University, Torino, Italy, May 24, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell and hydrogen station networks for automobiles, Tel Aviv University, Israel, June 6, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Program Assessment of Mechanical Engineering at University of California Irvine, Nile University, Cairo, Egypt, June 8, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Modeling-based Design for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Development, Nile University, Cairo, Egypt, June 8, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Fundamental development in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, June 8, 2022. (Invited talk)
2022 Y. Wang, Materials, technological status, and fundamentals of PEM fuel cells, APC, Chicago, US, March 12, 2022. (Invited talk)
Conference Activities (2019-24)
2024 Technical Program Committee Chairs, 2024 4th International Conference on Electronic Materials and Information Engineering (EMIE 2024), May 24-26, 2024. GuangZhou, China
2024 Technical Committees, The 12th Asia Conference on Mechanical and Materials Engineering (ACMME 2024), Kyoto, Japan, June 14-17, 2024.
2024 Academic Committee, 3rd International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT2024), Chongqing, June 28-30, 2024.
2024 Technical Program Committee Chairs, 2024 4th International Conference on Energy Engineering and Power Systems (EEPS 2024), Hangzhou, July 9-11, 2024.
2024 International Advisory Committee, 16th Int. Green Energy Conference ( IGEC-XVI), Ningbo, June 30-July 4, 2024.
2023 Chair, 2023 5th International Conference on New Energy System and Electrical Engineering (NESEE 2023), Guangzhou, China, 12/8-11/2023
2023 International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB), International Congress on Energy Chemistry and Engineering, Chengdu, China, July 21-23, 2023.
2023 International Advisory Committee, International Green Energy Conference, University of Glasgow, UK, July 4-8, 2023.
2023 Organizing Committee, 4th International Conference on Energy and AI, Qinghai, China, Aug. 10-13, 2023.
2022 International Advisory Committee, International Green Energy Conference, virtual, July 4-8, 2022.
2022 Advisory Committee, The 2d National Conference on Energy and Environmental Materials, July 15-17, 2022, Hangzhou. China.
2022 Organizing Committee, 3rd International Conference on Energy and AI, Belfort, France, Hybrid Event, July. 11-12, 2023.
2022 Session Chair of Computation in Fuel Cell I & II, World Fuel Cell Conference, Hybrid Event, Dec. 13-15, 2022.
2022 Co-Chair of World Fuel Cell Conference, Hybrid Event, Dec. 13-15, 2022.
2021 International Advisory Committee, 2nd International Conference on Energy and AI, London, UK, Aug. 8-13, 2021.
2021 International Organizing Committee, 2021 World Fuel Cell Conference (WFCC 2021) Online Event, Aug. 16-20, 2020.
2021 International Advisory Committee, 2nd International Conference on Energy and AI, London, UK, Aug 10-12, 2021 (Online Event).
2021 International Advisory Committee, International Green Energy Conference, Tianjin, China, July 15-18, 2021.
2021 Session Chair of An Invited Session, International Green Energy Conference, Tianjin, China, July 15-18, 2021.
2021 Session Chair of An Invited Session, World Fuel Cell Conference, Virtual Event, Aug.
16-20, 2021.
2020 Host and moderator, the Joule & Energy and AI Joint Online Symposium, Sep. 25, 2020.
2020 Session Chair, 1st International Conference on Energy and AI, Tianjin, China, Jan. 9-11, 2020.
2020 International Advisory Committee, 1st International Conference on Energy and AI, Tianjin, China, Jan. 9-11, 2020.
2020 International Organizing Committee, 2020 World Fuel Cell Conference (WFCC 2020) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 11-14, 2020.
2019 Session Chair, 2019 5th International Conference on Energy, Environment and Earth Sciences, Hangzhou, China, Dec. 18-Dec. 20, 2019.
2019 Session Chair, The Second International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT2019), Suzhou, China, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2019.
2019 Academic Committee, The Second International Conference on Clean Energy Materials and Technology (ICCEMT2019), Suzhou, China, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2019.
2019 Member, International Scientific & Advisory Committee, ICPFCST2019, The First International Conference on PEM Fuel Cell Science and Technology, Xi’an, China, Nov. 15-18, 2019.
2019 Track Co-Chair of 6th ASME International Conference of Micro/Nanoscale Heat and Mass Transfer, Dalian, July 8-10, 2019.
