The Disputation will be live streamed for everyone else.
The livestream will be activated 15 minutes before the Defense starts.
Trial lecture
June 18, 10:15 Auditorium 3, Chemistry Building
Trial lecture title: “Seawater Electrolysis for Green Hydrogen Production”
Conferral summary / Kreeringssammendrag
Doktoravhandlingen til Yabing Wen undersøker hydrering, protontransport og defektinteraksjoner i akseptordopet bariumzirkonat. Arbeidet reviderer etablerte modeller for protonfanging og sinterhjelpemidler, og klarlegger mikroskopiske mekanismer for ikke-ideell hydrering, defektklynger og romladningslag ved grensesnitt. Forskningen forbedrer den grunnleggende defektkjemien for protonledende keramikk og gir viktige retningslinjer for design av høyeffektive elektrolytter.
Main research findings / Hovedfunn
Proton-conducting ceramic materials are essential for clean energy devices, including fuel cells and electrolyzers. Acceptor-doped BaZrO₃ is a benchmarked electrolyte material in this field due to its chemical stability and appreciable proton conductivity at intermediate temperatures (300–700 °C). However, most prior studies oversimplified its internal structural defects and assumed ideal material behaviour. The work addresses fundamental questions regarding hydration thermodynamics, proton transport kinetics, and defect interactions—both in bulk (including singly and doubly doped systems) and at interfaces (metal/electrolyte). Compared to many studies that treat these materials within an ideal defect-chemical framework, this work explicitly confronts non-idealities in hydration equilibrium and proton transport behavior and challenges previous data interpretation.
The core objectives are: (i) to determine the true thermodynamics of hydration, including non-ideal behaviour; (ii) to re-evaluate proton diffusivity and the long-held “proton trapping/de-trapping” model; (iii) to clarify the role of Ni as both a sintering aid and a defect modifier; (iv) to characterise space charge layers at Ag/BZY interfaces.
The research is therefore highly relevant to the broader field of ceramic proton conductors and provides reliable fundamental insights for designing improved proton-conducting materials.
Candidate contact information
E-mail: Yabingw@uio.no
Telephone: 0086 15021141476
Adjudication committee
Professor Min Chen
School of Materials Science and Energy Engineering, Foshan University, China
Professor Jelena Popovic-Neuber
Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger
Associate professor Henrik Hovde Sønsteby
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo
Chair of defence
Ute Krengel
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Supervisors
Professor Truls Norby
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Professor Reidar Haugsrud
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Researcher Amir Masoud Dayaghi
Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Norway
Research Scientist Ragnar Strandbakke
SINTEF Industry, Oslo, Norway