Professor Shangfeng Du FHEA, BEng, PhD

Professor Shangfeng Du

School of Chemical Engineering
Professor of Electrochemical Engineering
Director of School PGR

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 415 8696
Email
s.du@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@dushangfeng
View my research portal
Address
School of Chemical Engineering
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Shangfeng Du is leading Birmingham Electrochemical Engineering Group conducting interdisciplinary research of materials, components, devices, single cells and short stacks, focusing on low temperature fuel cells and electrolysers, as well as zinc-air batteries and electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide.

Qualifications

  • Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA), 2017
  • PhD in Chemical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 2005
  • BEng in Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, China, 1999

Biography

Shangfeng Du is a Professor of Electrochemical Engineering in the School of Chemical Engineering. He received his BEng in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University in 1999. He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005. After that, he moved to Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, working in Power Metallurgy Laboratory (PML).

In 2007, he joined Birmingham as a Marie Curie Research Fellow starting his research in fuel cells, working together with the JKR Theory developer, Professor Kevin Kendall FRS. He was awarded Science City Research Fellowship from SCRA in 2009. He was appointed as a lecturer in 2015, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020 and Professor of Electrochemical Engineering in 2024. Birmingham Electrochemical Engineering Group conducts interdisciplinary research activities in energy storage and conversion technologies in the Centre for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research, as part of Birmingham Energy Institute.

Shangfeng Du serves as Associate Editor for the journal of Frontiers in Nanotechnology, and member of the Editorial Boards of Scientific Reports, Journal of Power Sources and Automotive Innovation. He has authored and co-authored more than 70 journal papers, reviews, book chapters and patents.

Teaching

Teaching programmes

  • Advanced Electrochemical Applications (Leader)
  • Design Project
  • Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology
  • Introduction to Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Technologies
  • Materials for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Techniques for Fuel Cell Characterisation

Postgraduate supervision

Shangfeng Du is interested in supervising doctoral research students for the design, development and evaluation of materials, components and devices in the following areas:

  • Low temperature water electrolysis
  • Low temperature fuel cells
  • Electrochemical reduction of CO2
  • Zinc-air fuel cells/batteries

As principal supervisor

Current Members

Alumni

  • Huiyu Li (Visiting PhD, 2023)
  • Mingshui Yao (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow 2022, Professor at Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  • Jie Meng (Visiting PhD, 2022)
  • Aalia Manzoor (Visiting PhD, 2022)
  • Milon Miah (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow 2021)
  • Haotian Ma (PhD 2021)
  • Gongjin Chen (PhD 2021)
  • Li Dai (Visiting Professor 2019, Professor at Harbin University of Science and Technology)
  • Liang Xu (Visiting scholar 2019, Associate Professor at Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology)
  • Yang Li (PhD 2019, Postdoc at Loughborough University)
  • Min Wang (Visiting PhD, 2017)
  • Sam Elderly (PhD 2016)
  • Elok Fidiani (PhD 2016, Lecturer at the Universitas Katolik Parahyangan)
  • Huixin Zhang (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow 2017, Associate Professor at Hebei University of Technology)
  • Peter Mardle (PhD 2015, Postdoc at NRC Canada)
  • Shengming Liu (Visiting scholar 2017, Professor at Xihua University)
  • Yaxiang Lu, (PhD 2012, Associate Professor at Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Self-funded candidates and candidates with external funds are welcome to contact. UK rate funding is also possible depending on the quality of the applicant.

Research

Research themes

  • Water electrolysers: proton exchange membrane (PEM), alkaline, anion exchange membrane (AEM)
  • Fuel cells: proton exchange membrane (PEM), alkaline, anion exchange membrane (AEM)
  • Liquid fuelled fuel cells: direct methanol fuel cell, direct ethanol fuel cell, direct formic acid fuel cell, etc.
  • Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to produce liquid fuels
  • Zinc-air fuel cells/batteries

Research activities

Design and development of catalyst electrodes and devices

  • 1D nanostructures from PGM and non-PGM materials, carbonaceous materials and metal oxides
  • Ionic liquid modification of catalysts and electrodes
  • Electrode structure design, e.g., 3D ordered nanostructures, 1D nanostructure array electrodes

Electrochemical engineering behaviour

  • Quantification of mass transport behaviour within catalyst electrodes
  • Nanoparticle behaviour in electrodes, e.g. adhesion between ionomer, particle aggregation, surface adsorption, etc.

Device and stack building

  • Composite membrane design for low fuel crossover
  • Porous transport layer fabrication by laser drilling and 3D printing
  • Surface coating for porous transport layer by electrochemical, PVD and plasma deposition
  • Flow field plate design and surface coating
  • Stack design and building

Electrochemical sensors

  • Electrochemical fuel cell breathalysers
  • Microbial fuel cell sensors for water and wastewater monitoring

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Cheng, F, Guo, Y, Liang, X, Yue, F, Yan, Y, Li, Y, Zhu, Y, He, Y & Du, S 2024, 'Ionic Liquid Modification of High-Pt-Loading Pt/C Electrocatalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Application', Catalysts, vol. 14, no. 6, 344. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal14060344

Ullah, S, Hussain, A, Farid, MA, Anjum, F, Amin, R, Du, S, Zou, J-J, Huang, Z-F & Tahir, M 2024, 'Sulfurization of bimetallic (Co and Fe) oxide and alloy decorated on multi-walled carbon nanotubes as efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting', Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 12, e32989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32989

Yu, J, Wang, K, Shao, S, Li, W, Du, S, Chen, X, Chao, C & Fan, X 2023, 'Effect of ionic radius and valence state of alkali and alkaline earth metals on promoting the catalytic performance of La2O3 catalysts for glycerol carbonate production', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 458, 141486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.141486

Li, Y, Yan, Y, Yao, M, Wang, F, Li, Y, Collins, SM, Chiu, Y & Du, S 2023, 'Porous electrodes from self-assembled 3D jointed Pd polyhedra for direct formic acid fuel cells', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 462, 142244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.142244

Fidiani, E, AlKahfi, AZ, Absor, MAU, Pravitasari, RD, Damisih, Listiani Dewi, E, Chiu, Y-L & Du, S 2022, 'Au-doped PtAg nanorod array electrodes for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells', ACS Applied Energy Materials. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.2c02528

Li, Y, Yan, Y, He, Y & Du, S 2022, 'Catalyst electrodes with PtCu nanowire arrays in situ grown on gas diffusion layers for direct formic acid fuel cells', ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 11457–11464. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c24010

Shao, S, Wang, K, Love, JB, Yu, J, Du, S, Yue, Z & Fan, X 2022, 'Water promoted photocatalytic Cβ-O bonds hydrogenolysis in lignin model compounds and lignin biomass conversion to aromatic monomers', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 435, no. 2, 134980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.134980

Fidiani, E, Thirunavukkarasu, G, Li, Y, Chiu, Y-L & Du, S 2021, 'Au integrated AgPt nanorods for the oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 9, no. 9, pp. 5578-5587. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA08551K

Wang, H, Wang, R, Sui, S, Sun, T, Yan, Y & Du, S 2021, 'Cathode design for proton exchange membrane fuel cells in automotive applications', Automotive Innovation, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 144-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42154-021-00148-y

Fernihough, O, Cheshire, H, Romano, J-M, Ibrahim, A, El-Kharouf, A & Du, S 2021, 'Patterned Membranes for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Working at Low Humidity', Polymers, vol. 13, no. 12, 1976. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13121976

Mardle, P, Thirunavukkarasu, G, Guan, S, Chiu, Y-L & Du, S 2020, 'Comparative study of PtNi nanowire array electrodes toward oxygen reduction reaction by half-cell measurement and PEMFC test', ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 12, no. 38, pp. 42832–42841. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c11531

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Sui, S, Zhang, R & Du, S 2020, Nanoporous materials for proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications. in J Liu & F Ding (eds), Nanoporous Materials for Molecule Separation and Conversion . 1st Edition edn, Micro & Nano Technologies Series, Elsevier, pp. 441-476. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818487-5.00013-3

Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

Mardle, P & Du, S 2021, Introduction to Materials for PEMFC Electrodes. in A-G Olabi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Smart Materials. vol. 2, Elsevier, pp. 242-255. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815732-9.00010-3

Branco, CM, El-Kharouf, A & Du, S 2021, Materials for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs): Electrolyte Membrane, Gas Diffusion Layers and Bipolar Plates. in A-G Olabi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Smart Materials. 1st edn, vol. 2, Elsevier, pp. 378-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815732-9.00011-5

Review article

Qadeer, MA, Zhang, X, Farid, MA, Tanveer, M, Yan, Y, Du, S, Huang, Z-F, Tahir, M & Zou, J-J 2024, 'A review on fundamentals for designing hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst', Journal of Power Sources, vol. 613, 234856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.234856

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