From a young age, family members asked Aaron what he wanted to do when he became older. As a naive kid, he was and still is. His responses always orbited around scientific disciplines. He used to see himself in a white lab coat looking through a lens of knowledge and expertise that will assemble so much good for the world. Years passed, and the reality of becoming the new Dexter was reduced. It reached a certain point when he realized the lonely, phrenic and obsessed old man in a white lab coat was no longer at the cutting edge of research. Individuality is a quality of the past, while teamwork and group development is and will be how advances are obtained. These reasons are why he has made certain decisions in his academic history, such as studying physics with renewable energy at the University of Dundee, where the broadness of the physical world was shown to him during his time there. This helped him to understand a whole new and complex system. As Aaron mentioned before, the collaboration of multiple points of view produces and enhances the quality of any piece of work. If we increase this by mixing numerous angles of view and different backgrounds when solving a problem, not only one rounded solution may come up, but various and diverse solutions will arise for the same issue. This is what AAPS CDT is for Aaron and why he has decided to invest his next 4 years with them.
Considering his physics background, he is interested in how energy is obtained and which methods are used for its production. By making these systems more efficient and reliable, we increase overall optimization by reducing the usage of resources. More circular energy production could be obtained by transferring these into all scenarios.
Aarons PhD will look at lifetime modelling of PEM fuel cell stacks. Fuel cells are devices that use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity without burning them. They are clean and efficient sources of energy for many applications, such as cars and buses. One type of fuel cell is called a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). It has a special membrane that allows protons (positive hydrogen atoms) to pass through it, while electrons (negative particles) go around it. This creates an electric current that can power a device.To understand and improve how PEMFCs work, we need to consider many factors that affect them, such as temperature, humidity, pressure, material thickness, stress, and resistance. These factors can change how well the fuel cell performs and how long it lasts. We want to find the best combination of these factors for different situations.One way to do this is to create computer models of PEMFCs that can mimic their real behaviour. We can then test different scenarios and see how the fuel cell reacts. This helps us to fine-tune our models and make them more accurate and realistic. This also saves us time and money, as we don’t need to do as many physical experiments.By doing this, we can learn more about how PEMFCs work and how to make them better. We can also make them more suitable for different uses and environments. This will help us to develop and use PEMFCs more widely and effectively. This is important for the future of fuel cell technology and clean energy.
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