Staff Profile

Roles and Responsibilities

I'm a postdoctoral research associate in mathematical modelling of water electrolysis. I focus on using models and simulations of the fluid mechanics, two-phase flow and electrochemical reactions coupled together to predict cell efficiency and crossover in alkaline and membrane-less water electrolysis. I am also interested in the development and analysis of porous materials for electrochemical devices, including electrolysis, hydrogen fuel cells and redox flow batteries. I'm also leading the Porous Microstructure Generator development.

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester
• MEng in Chemical Engineering with Industrial Experience at The University of Manchester

Previous Positions

1. EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow - Manufacture and simulation of 3D printed gas diffusion layers (2021 - 2022)
2. ICURe Entrepreneurial Lead - Innovation to commercialisation of university research (2018 - 2019)
3. Process Engineer - AstraZeneca (2015 - 2016)

Current Work

I am currently working on the development of simulations for predicting the performance of water electrolysis processes as part of the Ocean Refuel project. This will involve multiphase flow and transport coupled to electrochemical reactions and flow in porous media.

Other Work

My other research is in several complementary areas:

• Novel porous materials for electrochemical applications (fuel cells)
• 3D printing and pyrolysis
• Artificial porous microstructure generation and analysis (Porous Microstructure Generator Software)
• Water management in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Expertise

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (OpenFOAM)
• Mechanistic discrete particle models (Matlab & Python)
• Porous material generation & analysis
• Network models

Funding Received

• £60,000 - (EPSRC Connected Everything Feasibility Study) - Design & Manufacture of Novel 3D printed electrodes (PI)
• £500 - (Researcher to Innovator (R2I) 2021) - Designed carbon electrodes for electrochemical applications. (PI)
• £30,000 (EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship 2021) - Manufacture and design of additive manufactured gas diffusion layers for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. (PI)
• £45,000 (ICURe - Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research 2018) - Digital pore software suite for porous material simulation. (Entrepreneurial Lead)

• Articles

  • Godinez Brizuela OE, Niblett D, Einarsrud K. Microstructural Analysis of Effective Electrode Conductivity in Molten Salt, Na-ZnCl2 Batteries. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2022, 169(9), 090510.
  • Niblett D, Holmes S, Niasar V. Discrete-Particle Model to Optimize Operational Conditions of Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel-Cell Gas Channels. ACS Applied Energy Materials 2021, 4(10), 10514-10533.
  • Mularczyk A, Lin Q, Niblett D, Vasile A, Blunt M, Niasar V, Marone F, Schmidt N, Büchi F, Eller J. Operando Liquid Pressure Determination in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2021, 13(29), 34003-34011.
  • Niblett D, Mularczyk A, Niasar V, Eller J, Holmes S. Two-phase flow dynamics in a gas diffusion layer-gas channel-microporous layer system. Journal of Power Sources 2020, 471, 228427.
  • Niblett D, Niasar V, Holmes S. Enhancing the performance of fuel cell gas diffusion layers using ordered microstructural design. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2019, 167(1), 013520.
  • Niblett D, Porter S, Reynolds G, Morgan T, Greenamoyer J, Hach R, Sido S, Karan K, Gabbott I. Development and evaluation of a dimensionless mechanistic pan coating model for the prediction of coated tablet appearance. International Journal of Pharmaceutics 2017, 528(1-2), 180-201.