Dr Bernardo Sarruf

School of Chemical Engineering
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow

Contact details

Email: b.sarruf@bham.ac.uk

Address: Centre for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Research

Bernardo is a Materials Engineer that holds a PhD and MSc in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. A researcher with expertise in fuel cells and ceramic processing, he has strong project management skills. He currently acts as Marie Skłodowska Curie research fellow at the Centre for fuel cells and hydrogen research at the University of Birmingham.

Qualifications

06/01/2014 – 02/02/2018 – Doctorate Degree

Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | University of Birmingham UoB (Split Fellowship Programme – at UoB from 06/11/2015 to 05/11/2016).

01/03/2011 – 06/12/2013 – Master’s degree
Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

10/01/2005 – 22/03/2011 – Engineering Degree
Materials Engineering - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | École Polytechnique de Marseille EPUM (Split Fellowship Program – At EPUM from 31/08/2008 to 07/07/2009).

Biography

Bernardo has been working in the field of SOFC since his undergrad’s. As an engineering student, he founded his own company to develop solutions for microstructural characterisation using image analysis and deliver consultancy projects in materials selection, mechanical design, iron ore enrichment by direct hydrogen, amongst others. After obtaining his PhD degree in 2018, he has dedicated his efforts to SOFC development as a research fellow and project manager.

Bernardo has also served as member of organising and scientific committees of the 22nd World Hydrogen Energy Conference. He was subject assistant editor and financial director of the ‘Materia’ journal (ISSN 1517-7076) and was the WHEC special issue guest editor for the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.

In a hydrogen standard-wise perspective, he has delivered consultancy to the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards on SOFC testing standards. Bernardo is also one of the winners of the “CAPES thesis prize 2019”, selected as one of the most relevant thesis work of 2018 in Brazil. He has also been engaged with teaching activities since 2011 as invited lecturer, and served as Collaborator Professor for the Polytechnical School of Engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Teaching

Materials Science Principles (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro): Subjects – Properties of solids, crystallography, mechanical properties of materials, phase diagrams, metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and corrosion. (2020).

Fuel Cells (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering/Transportation Engineering – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - COPPE): Subjects – Fuel cells and their applications (2019 – 2020).

Phase Transformation (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro): Subjects – Diffusion, phase diagrams, solidification, the Fe-Fe3C system, phase transformations and heat treatments (2017 – 2020).

Materials Characterisation (Metallurgical and Materials Engineering – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro): Subject – Quantitative Metallography and Image Processing (2010 – 2020).

Doctoral research

PhD title: The utilisation of hydrocarbons as fuels in solid oxide fuel cells presents as an ingenious alternative for boosting the market widespread of such technology. The main advantage is the lower need of infrastructure investments. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to develop a ceria-based material with cobalt and copper additions to serve as anode for the electrochemical oxidation of methane. The electrocatalysts powders were synthesised with different proportion of cerium, cobalt and copper and were then tested and characterised. The characterisation was done by X-ray diffractometry, X-ray fluorescence, thermogravimetric analysis, temperature-programmed reduction, DC-conductivity tests and particle size distribution. The tests consisted in electrochemical performance and impedance, gas cromatography. Post-mortem characterisation was done by scanning electron mi- croscopy and was concentrated in assessing eventual carbon deposition by Raman spectroscopy and temperature-programmed oxidation. The produced cells and compositions have shown to be suitable for operating with both hydrogen or methane as fuels in the range of 700-850C. The post-mortem showed the anode integrity and besides that, no significant carbon was found in the anode post-mortem bulk. Therefore, the anode material has presented itself as a promising alternative for real solid oxide fuel cells applications.

Research

- High temperature fuel cells

- High temperature co-electrolysis

- Utilisation of ethanol and biogas on fuel cell mode

- Development of special rigs for alternative fuels utilisation

Other activities

- Member of the Brazilian Association for Hydrogen - ABH2.

- Special Issue Guest Editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (WHEC2018 special issue).

- Former Subject Editor of the Materia Journal – Materials & Energy.

- Member of the Organising and Scientific Committee of the 22nd World Hydrogen Energy Conference 2018.

- Reviewer member of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society since 2020.

- Reviewer member of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy since 2018.

- Reviewer member of the Materia Journal since 2013.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E.; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Influence of novel anode design on the performance and coke resistance towards methane directly-fed solid oxide fuel cells. Ceramics International, 46 (2020) 5368-5379 <doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2019.10.292>

VENÂNCIO, S. A.; SARRUF, B.J.M.; GOMES Jr, G.G.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Multifunctional macroporous solid oxide fuel cell anode with active nanosized ceramic electrocatalyst. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 45 (2020) 5501-5511 <doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.06.006>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E.; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Ceria-Co-Cu-based SOFC anode for direct utilisation of methane or ethanol as fuels. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 45 (2020) 5297- 5308 <doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.04.075>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; CORALLI, A.; HONG, J-E.; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Nickel- Free SOFC Anode for Ethanol Electrocatalysis. ECS Transactions, 91 (1) (2019) 1673-1682 <doi: 10.1149/09101.1673ecst>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E.; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; CeO2-Co3O4-CuO anode for direct utilisation of methane or ethanol in solid oxide fuel cells. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43 (2018) 6340-6351 <doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.01.192>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E.; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Double Layered CeO2- Co3O4-CuO Based Anode for Direct Utilisation of Methane or Ethanol in SOFC. ECS Transactions, 78 (2017) 1343- 1351 <doi: 10.1149/07801.1343ecst>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; CIDADE, R.A.; BRAGA, V.P.; SANTANA, G.J.; Classifiers performance evaluation in quantitative metallography. (in Portuguese), Matéria (UFRJ), 20 (2015) 384-391 <doi: 10.1590/S1517- 707620150002.0039>

SARRUF, B.J.M.; CIDADE, R.A.; BRAGA, V.P.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Digital volume reconstruction of an SOFC electrode for porosity and tortuosity calculation (in Portuguese) Materia-Rio de Janeiro, 18 (2013) 67-74 <doi: 10.1590/S1517-70762013000100009>

VENÂNCIO, S. A.; GUTIERRES, T.F.; SARRUF, B. J. M.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Ethanol direct oxidation in a SOFC anode. (in Portuguese) Materia-Rio de Janeiro, 13 (2008) 560-568, 2008 <doi: 10.1590/S1517- 70762008000300015 >

Book Chapters

CORALLI, A.; SARRUF, B.J.M.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; OSMIERI, L.; SPECCHIA, S.; MINH, N.Q.; Fuel Cells. Science and Engineering of Hydrogen-Based Energy Technologies. 1ed.: Elsevier, 2019, v. 1, p. 39-122.

MIRANDA, P.E.V; VENÂNCIO, S.A.; SARRUF, B.J.M.; GOMES Jr, G.G.; MINH, N.Q.; Direct Utilization of Ethanol in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: Preparation and Characterization of CeO2-Al2O3 Based Anodes. In: Mihails Kusnezoff; Narottam P. Bansal; Kiyoshi Shimamura. (Org.). Advances in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Electronic Ceramics II. 3ed.: Wiley, 2017, v. 37, p. 61-77.

Conference Presentations

SARRUF, B.J.M.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Solid oxide fuel cells and successful operation with unreformed ethanol and methane as fuels. In First Conference of the Brazilian Association for hydrogen (I CABH2), 2019, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; VENÂNCIO, S.A.; CORALLI, A.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Ni-Free anodes for the direct utilization of carbonaceous fuels and special balance of plant. In European Fuel Cell Conference and Exhibition (EFC2019), 2019, Naples, Italy. Presented by Prof. Paolo Piccardo.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Nickel-Free SOFC Anode for Ethanol Electrocatalysis. In: 16th International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XVI), 2019, Kyoto, Japan.

MIRANDA, G.C.C.; SARRUF, B.J.M.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Manufacturing and operation of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells. In: 22nd World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC2018), 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Ceria-Co-Cu-based SOFC anode for direct utilisation of methane or ethanol as fuels. In: 22nd World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC2018), 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Double layered CeO2- Co3O4-CuO based anode for direct utilisation of methane or ethanol in SOFC. In: 15th International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XV), 2017, Hollywood, Florida, United States.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Cerium-Cobalt-Copper oxides based SOFC anodes for the direct utilisation of methane as fuel. In: European Fuel Cell Forum (EFCF) 2016, Luzern, Switzerland.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; CeO2-Co3O4-CuO anode for the direct utilisation of methane in SOFC. In: Fuel Cell and Hydrogen 2016 Technical Conference (FCH2), 2016, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; HONG, J-E; STEINBERGER-WILCKENS, R.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Specialty CeO2-Co3O4- CuO based anode for direct utilisation of ethanol and methane as fuels in solid oxide fuel cells. In: SIMPOSIO MATERIA, 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

VENÂNCIO, S.A.; SARRUF, B.J.M.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; SOFC anode phase characterization and determination of charge transfer mechanisms. European Fuel Cell Forum (EFCF2014) 2014, Luzern, Switzerland.

SARRUF, B.J.M.; BRAGA, V.P.; CIDADE, R.A.; MIRANDA, P.E.V.; Digital volume reconstruction of an SOFC electrode for porosity and tortuosity calculation. In: SIMPOSIO MATERIA, 2010, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.