Oliver Edward Fernihough

Centre for Doctoral Training Student Doctoral Researcher                                                   

Address

School of Chemical Engineering
University Of Birmingham
Edgbaston
B15 2TT
United Kingdom 

Email

OXF537@student.bham.ac.uk 

Lead Supervisor

Dr Shangfeng Du 

Research summary

Oliver joined the Centre for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research in October 2016 as part of the CDT. Prior to this, he graduated from the University of Birmingham in July 2015 with his master’s degree in Advance Chemical Engineering. The aim of his current research is to optimise the performance of low temperature fuel cell (LT-FC) membranes by modifying their geometric area to maximize the LT-FC power density output.

He is funded through the EPSRC CDT  in Fuel Cells and their fuels: EP/L015749/1.

Qualifications

MSc (Merit) in Advanced Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham (2016)

BEng (2:1 Hons) in Chemical Engineering, Swansea University (2014)

Biography

Oliver, native from Birmingham, undertook his Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering at Swansea University (2014). Later, he joined a Master's degree at the University of Birmingham in Advanced Chemical Engineering, in which he worked under Peter Mardle's CDT student supervision on the fabrication and testing of functionalised reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) with Platinum-Palladium (PtPd) nanowires.

Research

In October 2016 Oliver joined the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Fuels Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Birmingham to start his PhD studies. His research, supervised by Dr. Ahmad El-kharouf and Dr. Shangfeng Du, involves the nanopatterning of proton exchange membranes for their use in PEMFCs.

Other activities

Oliver enjoys running, cycling, and swimming; activities inherited from his stay in Swansea. Besides this, he is a keen instrumentalist and enjoys socialising.

Publications

1)      Mardle, P; Fernihough, O; Du,S.F. Evaluation of the Scaffolding Effect of Pt Nanowires Supported on Reduced Graphene Oxide in PEMFC Electrodes, Coatings, 2018, 8, pp. 48-56, DOI: 10.3390/coatings8020048