This work explores the blending of e-textile technology with the porous electrode of
polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and with smart wound patches
to allow monitoring and in-situ diagnostics. This work includes contributions to understanding water transport and conductivity in the carbon cloth gas diffusion layer
(GDL), and further developing thread-based relative humidity (RH) and temperature
sensors, which can be sewn on a cloth GDL in PEMFCs. We also explore the
application of the developed RH and temperature sensors in wearable biomonitoring.
First, an experimental prototype is developed for evaluating water transport, thermal
conductivity and electrical conductivity of carbon cloth GDLs under different hydrophobic
coatings and compressions. Second, we demonstrate the addition of external
threads to the carbon cloth GDL to (1) facilitate water transport and (2) measure
local RH and temperature with a minimal impact on the physical, microstructural
and transport properties of the GDL. We illustrate the roll-to-roll process for fabricating
RH and temperature sensors by dip-coating commodity threads into a carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) suspension. The thread-based sensors response to RH and temperature in the working environment of PEMFCs is investigated. As a proof-of-concept, the local temperature of carbon cloth GDL is monitored in an ex-situ experiment.
Finally, we optimized the coating parameters (e.g. CNTs concentration, surfactant
concentration and a number of dipping) for the thread-based sensors. The
response of the thread-based sensors in room conditions is evaluated and shows a
linear resistance decrease to temperature and a quadratic resistance increase to RH.
We also evaluated the biocompatibility of the sensors by performing cell cytotoxicity
and studying wound healing in an animal model. The novel thread-based sensors
are not only applicable for textile electrochemical devices but also, show a promising
future in wearable biomonitoring applications. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/12441 |
| Date | 07 December 2020 |
| Creators | Hasanpour, Sadegh |
| Contributors | Djilali, Ned, Akbari, Mohsen |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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