Xu Zhang, Ph.D.
Research engineer fuel cell design and stack development
I am a research engineer at Bosch Research and Technology Center in China. Throughout my education in university and career in Bosch, I continuously focus on the coupling phenomena in electrochemical energy conversion, i.e., fuel cell, electrolyzer and flow battery. This unique area requires very multidisciplinary knowledge, including heat, mass and charge transport, electrochemical reaction, as well as various material. This is really fantastic. Now I and my colleagues are using various approaches to decipher the phenomena and process in fuel cell and electrolyzer. We design and validate the high performance and reliable membrane electrode assembly, which are core for fuel cell and electrolyzer. We also strive for innovative ideas for next Gen products.
Curriculum vitae
- Research enginneer, MEA characterization and stack modeling, Bosch Research and Technology Center, China
- Department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, University of Miami
- School of energy and power engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Selected publications
Xu Zhang et al. (2020)
- Xu Zhang, Yupeng Yang, Xuyang Zhang, Hongtan Liu
- Journal of Power Sources 449, 227580
Xu Zhang et al. (2019)
- Hongtan Liu Xu Zhang, Yupeng Yang, Xuyang Zhang, Liejin Guo
- Fuel Cells 19.2: 160-168
Yupeng Yang, Xu Zhang et al. (2020)
- Yupeng Yang, Xu Zhang, Liejin Guo, Hongtan Liu
- Journal of Power Sources 477, 229021
Xuyang Zhang, Xu Zhang et al. (2019)
- Xuyang Zhang, Xu Zhang, Hidetaka Taira, Hongtan Liu
- Journal of Power Sources 412, 391-397
Interview with Xu Zhang, Ph.D.
Senior research scientist, fuel cell design and validation
Please tell us what fascinates you most about research.
What fascinates me most about research is that we should keep learning to understand the world . Taking the fuel cell as example, even though it has been invented for more than 100 years, there are still numerous unknown factors ahead of us. The knowledge from interdisciplinary study is very important.
What makes research done at Bosch so special?
Bosch Research offers opportunities to explore the cutting-edge technologies to solve the key requirements from the perspective of products.
What research topics are you currently working on at Bosch?
I am using diverse characterization tools to diagnose the performance and durability of a single fuel cell. The objectives are to understand the causes and effect relationship between many different factors and eventually fuel cell performance. Besides this, I am working on the parameterizaiton of membrane electrode assembly (MEA), the core of fuel cells. Then I will incorporate it into a numerical model to unravel the coupling processes in fuel cells, from small single cells to full-sized cells.
What are the biggest scientific challenges in your field of research?
With the booming of the fuel cell market in China, the cost of Bosch fuel cell products must be reduced extensively to be locally competitive. Low cost without compromise in performance and durability is quite a challenge, which requires a fundamental understanding of fuel cell material and behaviors.
How do the results of your research become part of solutions "Invented for life"?
Fuel cell electric vehicles are important to achieve emission reduction goals in the transportation sector. I am happy to have close collaboration with colleagues in BUs to develop innovative fuel cell products, by transferring and sharing our research results, including testing data, technical discussion, research reports and support, etc.
Get in touch with me
Xu Zhang, Ph.D.