Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), which produce electricity with near-zero pollution, have attracted significant attention as a sustainable power supply system. The development of fuel cell and hydrogen economy align with the scopes of Industrial Strategy: building a Britain fit for the future, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, November 2017 and Road to Zero, Department for Transport, Office for Low Emission Vehicles, July 2018. This will help improve the air we breathe, support the shift to clean growth, and help the UK to seize new economic opportunities. Currently, fuel cells are used successfully in automobile, distributed/stationary and portable power generation applications. However, to improve its specific power and extend hydrogen FCs' wider applications e.g. unmanned flying vehicles (UAVs) and drones, super light-weight FCs technology will be required. Recent research has revealed the feasibility of using graphene aerogel (GA) as electrodes for electrochemical devices. Its high conductivity, high porosity and high surface area enable its applications of being gas diffusion layer (GDL), flow field plate (FFP), current collector and catalyst support; Super lightweight, flexibility and high compressibility could increase fuel cells mass and volume power densities and lead to alternative shapes. The primary aim of this research is to explore a range of GAs, and use the suitable ones to replace two components in conventional PEFC - GDL and FFP. Traditional FFP is usually made from carbon/polymer composites, graphite plates or stainless steel; GDL is usually made from high porous carbon paper. They are the two components which contribute the majority of the weight to FCs. In conventional FFP, the ribs partially cover the GDL and the resultant gas-transport distance becomes longer than the inter-channel distance. Water tends to saturate at the thinner portion, consequently, oxygen transport is compromised, leading to nonuniform power generation in the FCs. Using GA to replace these parts may deliver extremely lightweight fuel cells, therefore increased power densities can be achieved. GA has porous fine structure, reactant gases will follow diffusion-based mass transfer mechanism, that will lead to an uniform distribution of the reactants. The hydrophobic property and the pore arrangement of GA will enable the water produced in the cathode to leave the electrode, therefore better water management in fuel cells could be achieved. To accommodate graphene aerogel fuel cell (GAFC), a polymer based, simplified FC system will be designed and 3D printed at Northumbria University. The majority of the FC testing work will be carried out using this system. Selected samples will also be tested in the National Physical Laboratory using their state-of-the-art fuel cell test station, which contains a unique reference electrode array that can characterise carbon corrosion in the cathode. Owing to the high elasticity and flexible shape, to further improve the water management, two more types of chamber design will be introduced: tubular shape FC body and parallelogram electrode host. Tubular shape will introduce compression and expansion stress on anode and cathode respectively, therefore the cathode will have expanded pore structure which will further facilitate the air / oxygen mass transport and water to leave the electrodes; parallelogram shape will introduce shear strain on the electrodes, to facilitate water management. Numerical simulation for gas mass transfer, diffusion, heat and water distribution within GAFCs for different structure, shape of GAs and different cell design will be carried out to develop a better understanding of the experimental results. Further studies of GAFC could include temperature management and gas / air cleaning functions.

Soft Matter is ubiquitous, in the form of polymers, colloids, gels, foams, emulsions, pastes, or liquid crystals; of synthetic or biological origin; as bulk materials or as thin films at interfaces. Soft Matter impinges on almost every aspect of human activity: what we eat, what we wear, the cars we drive, the medicines we take, what we use to keep clean and healthy, in sport and leisure. Soft Matter plays a role in many industrial processes including new frontiers such as digital manufacturing, regenerative medicine and personalised products. Soft Matter is complex chemically and physically with structure and properties that depend on length and time scales. Too often the formulation of soft materials has been heuristic, without the fundamental understanding that underpins predictive design, which hampers innovation and leads to problems in scale up and reformulation in response to changing regulation or customer preferences. Durham, Edinburgh and Leeds Universities set up the SOFI CDT in 2014 in response to the challenge from manufacturers across the personal care, coatings, plastics and food sectors to provide future employees with the skills to transform the design and manufacture of soft materials from an art into a science. The dialogue continues with industrial partners, both old and new, which has resulted in this bid for a refreshed CDT in Soft Matter - SOFI2 - that reflects the evolving scientific, technological and industrial landscape. We have a new partnership with the National Formulation Centre, who will lead a training case study and contribute to the wider training programme, and with many new partners from SMEs to multinationals. We will seek to involve more small and medium-sized companies in SOFI2 by providing opportunities for them to engage in training and project supervision. SOFI2 will have increased training in biological soft matter, which has been identified as a growth area by the EPSRC and our partners, and in scale-up and manufacturing, so that our students can understand better the challenges of taking ideas from the laboratory to the customer. Social responsibility in research and innovation will be embedded throughout the training program and we will trial new ideas in participatory research where the public is involved in the creation of research projects. Each cohort of 16 students will spend their first six months on a common training programme in science and engineering, built around case studies co-delivered with industry partners. They then select their PhD projects and join their research groups in Durham, Leeds or Edinburgh. Generic and transferable skills training continues throughout the four years, bringing the cohorts together for both academic-led and student-led activities. We aim to produce SOFI2 graduates who are business-aware and who are good citizens as well as good scientists. The importance of Soft Matter to the UK economy cannot be understated. Industry sectors relying on Soft Matter include paints and coatings; adhesives, sealants and construction products; rubber, plastics and composite materials; pharmaceuticals and healthcare; cosmetics and personal care; household and professional care; agrochemicals; food and beverages; inks and dyes; lubricants and fuel additives; and process chemicals. A 2018 InnovateUK report estimate the formulated products sector (most of which involves Soft Matter) contributed £149 billion annually to the UK economy. The formulated products sector is undergoing a rapid transformation in response to a shift to sustainable feedstocks, environmental and regulatory pressures and personalised products. It will also be shaped in unpredictable ways by data analytics and artificial intelligence. SOFI2 will equip students with the knowledge and skills to thrive in this business environment.