Associate Professor, Platform of Inter/Transdisciplinary Energy Research (Q-PIT), Kyushu University, Japan & Visiting Professor, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Biography: Dr. Stephen Lyth studied Physics at Durham University in the UK, and earned a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Surrey. In 2008, he travelled to Japan, as a postdoc at Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 2011, Dr. Lyth moved south to Kyushu University as a WPI Assistant Professor at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), where he was promoted to WPI Associate Professor in 2015. In 2017 he became Associate Professor at the newly-formed Kyushu University Platform for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (Q-PIT). He is also Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

Dr Lyth's interests are in lowering the cost of energy-related green technologies in order to make them available to everybody. In particular, he is interested in synthesising platinum-free carbon-based electrocatalysts, and nanocellulose ionomer membranes, to drastically reduce the price of hydrogen fuel cell systems. He has written over 60 papers on carbon materials, edited a book on Hydrogen Energy Engineering, and given talks at over 70 international conferences.

Speech Title: Nanocellulose Proton Conducting Membranes for Fuel Cells
Abstract: Nanocellulose is a promising new ionomer membrane material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFCs). It is the most abundant polymer in the world, making it much cheaper than conventional ionomer membranes such as Nafion or Aquivion. It I three times stronger, and has three orders of magnitude lower hydrogen permeability than Nafion. We investigated the proton conductivity and prepared the world's first operational PEFCs with nanocellulose membranes.
In order to improve the proton conductivity, we prepared sulfonated nanocellulose. To take advantage of the low hydrogen permeability and high strength, we developed very thin membranes. Spray-painting was used to fabricate "paper fuel cells" with 8 µm-thick sulfonated nanocellulose membranes. This resulted in high current density (almost 1 A cm^-2), and a maximum power density of 156 mW cm^-2 (H₂/air, 80C, 95% RH, 0.1 MPa).
The cost of these spray-painted sulfonated nanocellulose membranes was calculated to be ~50 $/m², which is much lower than e.g. Nafion. This work paves the way for the mass production of affordable, recyclable, and even disposable fuel cells.