PhD project: Surface Modification of Hafnium Oxide via Sol-Gel Synthesis for the Improvement of Conductivity and Mechanical Stability of Anion Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cells

Curriculum: I have started my academic studies in 2015 at the University of Palermo (Italy), obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Energy engineering in 2018.
Subsequently, I started my Master degree in 2018 in Energy engineering at the University of Bolzano and Trento and I graduated in January 2021.
My master thesis work dealt with the preparation of polyamine membranes for anion-exchange membrane fuel cells applications, and it was realized under the supervision of Dr. Narges Ataollahi and Professor Paolo Scardi.
I have been assigned as research assistant since March 2021 in the department of civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering, at University of Trento. The main topic of research was the study of innovative anion exchange membranes based on functionalized polyketone and their application on alkaline fuel cells. In November 2021, I have obtained the position as PhD student at the Energy and Materials Lab at the University of Trento, under the supervision of Prof. Narges Ataollahi, Prof. Paolo Scardi, and Prof. Luca Deseri.
The research work includes the synthesis of functionalized hafnia nanoparticles and the synthesis of polyketone based anion exchange membranes improved with the addition of these nanoparticles, as well as their characterization and multiscale modelling, eventually using them in working alkaline fuel cells.
The experimental work runs in parallel with a multiscale computational simulation, aiming at foreseeing the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the membranes, to eventually optimize the synthetized ones.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleonora-tomasino-858929155/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S3WZAc4AAAAJ&hl=it