Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant

agreement No 945357
Cofund PhD “DESTINY”

Hafiz Ahmad Ishfaq

Prospective Ph.D. Student

DESTINY Ph.D. Program

Address – Korea Institute of Energy Research

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France (KIER), 34129, Daejeon, South Korea
Nationality – Pakistani
March 30, 2021
Date of birth – 6th October 1995
Email – h.ahmadishfaq10@gmail.com
Mobile - +82 10 51098511
 Introduction
M.Sc. Advance Energy and System Engineering Trainee researcher (1.5 years
2019-2021 research experience)
CGPA: 4.45/4.50 2017-2019
University of Science and Technology (UST) Korea Institute of Energy Research
Daejeon, South Korea (KIER)
Daejeon, South Korea

B.Sc. Materials Engineering

2013-2017
CGPA: 3.94/4.00
Gold Medalist
University of Engineering and Technology (UET)
2 Lahore, Pakistan
 Research Area in Masters
Solid oxide cells (SOCs) – Introduction

❑ High efficiency ❑ Enhances electro-

❑ Environment friendly Anode Cathode catalytic activity
❑ Fuel diversification
❑ All solid-state construction and stability
❑ Utilization of wide
variety of active
materials
❑ Cost-effective

Infiltration

Electrochem. Soc. Interface.22, 4, 49-54 (2013).

3 D. Ding, X. Li, Y. Lai and M. Liu, 2014, 552–575.
 Research Project-I
Synthesis route and the characterization of Sm3+ and Nd3+ double-doped Ceria as an efficient electrocatalysts for SOCs

Ce3+, Sm3+, Nd3+ nitrates Addition of citric acid and (a) (b)
dissolved in DI-water ethylene glycol

Sol-gel method

Mixing at 70oC to form viscous gel

Gel decomposition

Calcination
(c) (d)
Ball milling in ethanol

Sm0.075Nd0.075Ce0.85O2-x (SNDC)

Characterization methods

XRD XPS HR-TEM EIS

4 ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13 (2021) 2496-2506.

 Research Project-II
Enhancing the Electrocatalytic Activities and Durability of SOCs by Nano Tailoring the Surface of LSCF Cathode
1.2
800

Sm0.075Nd0.075Ce0.85O2-δ, SNDC is an ionic conductor which enhances the Infiltrated cathode 1.0

Power density / mW.cm-2

700

600

Cell potential / V
0.8
electrocatalytic activity of state-of-the-art LSCF cathode when 2x Increased 500
0.6
power
400
infiltrated at an optimized loading amount. SNDC
0.4 300

200
Bare cathode
250 nm 0.2
Infiltrated cathode
100

0.0 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Current density / mA.cm-2
1.4

Bare cathode 1.2 Bare cathode

Infiltrated cathode
1.0

-Zim / .cm2
0.8

0.6

0.4

250 nm 0.2

0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Zre / .cm 2

5 Nano tailoring the surface of SOC cathode by the infiltration of Sm0.075Nd0.075Ce0.85O2-δ coating . Journal of Power Sources (Under Revision).
 Research Project-III
SNDC coating enhances the SOC durability by
preventing the:
• Sr diffusion and migration from LSCF lattice
• Formation of insulating phases at
SE/cathode interface

1.2
Bare cathode
1.0 Infiltrated cathode
Cell Voltage / V

0.8 % degradation = 0.2% Catalyst Infiltration

0.6
% degradation = 7.8%

0.4

0.2 Temperature: 700oC

Current Density: 0.5 A/cm2

0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500

Elapsed time / h
6 Enhancing the SOFC cathode durability by surface modifications through infiltration. Journal of Materials Chemistry A (Submitted).
 Research motivation for DESTINY

SOCs and solid-state batteries have similar:

Selection of first three topics based on solid-state
❑ Electrochemical characterization methods.
batteries
❑Characterization tools to identify the
1) Topic n°11 (related to SE/cathode interface)
formation of interphase.
2) Topic n°12 (related to inorganic solid SEs)
❑Challenges facing solid-state electrolytes.
3) Topic n°14 (related to SEI by fluorinated
❑Mechanisms of degradation and multiscale
solvents)
ion transport.
7
Energy Storage Materials 25 (2020) 224-250 / Nature Materials 18 (2019) 1278-1291 / Chem Soc Rev 46 (2017) 6345-6378.
 Research outcomes

Publications
Experimental Skills
Software
❑ Origin Pro9 ❑ Fabrication of solid oxide ❑Published Articles
cells
❑ SolidWorks Journal Article: 1
❑Electrochemical
❑ Z-view Scribner Impedance Spectroscopy International Conferences: 3

❑ Degradation analysis at ❑Submitted Articles

❑MATLAB (Beginner)
SE/cathode interfaces
Revision Submitted: 1
❑ CasaXPS ❑Ceramic powder synthesis
Revision in Preparation: 1
❑ Jade ❑ Materials
Characterization Tools Book chapters: 2 (revision
❑Biologic EC lab
(SEM, HR-STEM-EDS,
submitted)
XRD, WDS, XPS, DTA)

8
Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant
agreement No 945357
Cofund PhD “DESTINY”