Experimental facilities

Equipment and user fees


Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing (TRPS) equipment


The laboratory facility is extened by another set of equipment called qNano and qMicro from Izon Science. Izon's qNano/qMicro equipment can be used to measure: 1) particle diameter; 2) effective surface charge and zeta potential; 3) concentration of nanoparticles in the solution. The equipment is based on Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing (TRPS) technology. Sample particles are driven through the nanopore by applying a combination of pressure and voltage, and each particle causes a resistive pulse or "blockade" signal that is detected and measured by the application software. Manas Mandal has successfully achieved level 1 and level 2 competency certification on Izon's TRPS system. The competency is on particle diameter and concentration measurement.

For more information about the equipment, visit Izon Schience website.

Manas's certificate

User fees:

Academic fees: $100 per sample
Industrial fees: $200 per sample
Izon Science qMicro and qNano

Mercury intrusion porosimeter


The recently purchased Quantachrome PoreMaster 33 uses the principle of mercury intrusion porosimetry to measure the porosity and pore size distribution of porous materials. In our laboratory, it is used extensively to measure the porosity of fuel cell gas diffusion layers, micro-porous layers and catalyst layers.

For more information about the equipment visit Quantachrome Inc. website.

User fees:

Academic fees: $250 per sample
Industrial fees: $500 per sample
Mercury intrusion porosimeter

Fuel cell testing station


The recently purchased Scribner Fuel Cell Testing 850e Station and Princeton Applied Research VersaSTAT4 can be used to test hydrogen and methanol fuel cells. In our laboratory, it is used extensively to measure active area, hydrogen cross-over and fuel cell performance for the fuel cells fabricated in our laboratory.
For more information about the equipment visit Scribner Associates Inc. and PAR websites.

User fees:

Academic fees: $100 per day of testing
Industrial fees: $200 per day of testing
Fuel cell test station

Enviromental chamber


Our Cincinnati Sub-Zero (CSZ) environmental chamber can be used to control temparture and humidity from about 200C to -40C. In our laboratory, it is currently being used to measure air-breathing fuel cell performance under cold weather conditions.

User fees:

Academic fees: $100 per day of testing
Industrial fees: $200 per day of testing
Environmental chamber

Gas permeability and diffusivity setup


We have developed an experimental setup to measure gas permeability and diffusivity in porous samples. The setup was used to obtain permeability and Knudsen diffusivity values for fuel cell gas diffusion layers (see, for example, N. Carrigy , L. Pant, S. Mitra, M. Secanell, "Knudsen Diffusivity and Permeability of PEMFC Microporous Coated Gas Diffusion Layers for Different Polytetrafluoroethylene Loadings", Journal of the Electrochemical Society, J. Electrochem. Society, 160(2):F81-F89, DOI: doi: 10.1149/2.036302jes).

User fees:

Academic fees: $100 per sample
Industrial fees: $200 per sample
Permeability setup

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