Matthew M. Mench

Department Head, Condra Chair of Excellence Professor, Joint Faculty at ORNL

Biography

2013-present
Professor and Head, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Joint Faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Energy and Transportation Science Division

2010-2013
Professor, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Joint Faculty, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Energy and Transportation Science Division

2007-2010
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

2002-2007
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

2000-2002
Assistant Professor/Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pennsylvania State University

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Research

• Electrochemical power conversion and storage including polymer electrolyte fuel cells, flow battery systems, and biological energy systems.
• Multi-phase transport visualization and characterization.
• Computational simulation of electrochemical power conversion and storage systems.
• Electrochemical methods of hazardous waste conversion.
• Simulation of the influence of rapidly evolving socio-cultural factors on decision making and group opinion dynamics.

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Education

Ph.D., 2000, The Pennsylvania State University

MSME, 1996, The Pennsylvania State University

BSME, 1994, The Pennsylvania State University

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Professional Service

• ASME Fellow
• ASME Department Head Executive Committee
• Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology
• Former Executive Vice President, International Associate for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE)
• Associate Editor (Emeritus), International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
• Invited speaker to over 60 Universities, Research Laboratories, and Conferences
• Reviewer for Numerous Journals
• Conference Chair, 2008 Gordon Research Conference on Fuel Cells
• Advisory Board Member, Session Chair, or Organizer for Numerous Technical Conferences
• NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) Awardee 2007
• Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Member, Electrochemical Society
• NASA Graduate Research Fellowship (GSRP) 2000

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Awards and Recognitions

• 2016 List of The 150 Most Cited Scholars in Energy Research by Elsevier Scopus Data
• UT College of Engineering Translational Research Award, 2016
• UT Research Foundation Start Up Award, 2016
• The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2014
• 2013 UTK College of Engineering Research Fellow Award
• Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers (top 1% cited authors in engineering category for 2002-2012)
• Outstanding  and Premier Teaching Awards, Penn State Engineering Society 2006 and 2009.

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Publications

Publications 2014-2017

Y.A. Gandomi, D.S. Aaron, M.M. Mench, "Influence of membrane equivalent weight and reinforcement on ionic species crossover in all-vanadium redox flow batteries," Journal of Membranes, 7(2), 29 (2017).

J. Houser, A. Pezeshki, J.T. Clement, D.S. Aaron, and M.M. Mench, "Architecture for improved mass transport and system performance in redox flow batteries," Journal of Power Sources, 351, 96-105 (2017).

S. Ou, H. Kashima, D.S. Aaron, J.M. Regan, and M.M. Mench, "Full cell simulation and the evaluation of the buffer system on air-cathode microbial fuel cell," Journal of Power Sources, 347, 159-169 (2017).

A.M. Pezeshki, R.L. Sacci, F.M. Delnick, D.S. Aaron, and M.M. Mench, "Elucidating effects of cell architecture, electrode material, and solution composition on overpotentials in redox flow batteries," Electrochimica Acta, 229, 261-270 (2017).

S. Saeed, A. Pistono, J. Cisco, C.S. Burke, J.T. Clement, M.M. Mench, and C. Rice, "Advanced Selectively Gas Permeable Anode Flow Field Design for Removal of Carbon Dioxide in a Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell," Fuel Cell, DOI:10.1002/fuce.201600034 (2016).

Z. Kang, J. Mo, G. Yang, D.A. Cullen, S.T. Retterer, T.J. Toops, J.B. Green Jr, M.M. Mench, and F. Zhang, "Investigation of thin/well-tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers exhibiting superior multifunctional performance in low-temperature electrolytic water splitting," Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/C6EE02368A.

S. Ou, Y. Zhao, D.S. Aaron, J. M. Regan, and M.M. Mench, "Modeling and validation of single-chamber microbial fuel," Journal of Power Sources, 328, 385-396 (2016).

Y.A. Gandomi, D.S. Aaron, and M.M. Mench, "Coupled membrane transport parameters for ionic species in all-vanadium redox flow batteries," Electrochimic Acta, 218, 174-190 (2016).

Y.A. Gandomi, M.D. Edmundson, F.C. Busby, and M.M. Mench, "Water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells through asymmetric thermal and mass transport engineering of the micro-porous layers," Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 163(8), F933-F944 (2016).

S. Ou, H. Kashima, D. Aaron, J.M. Regan, and M.M. Mench, "Multi-variable mathematical models for the air-cathode microbial fuel cell system," Journal of Power Sources, 314, 49-57 (2016).

J. Houser, J. Clement, A. Pezeshki, and M.M. Mench, "Influence of architecture and material properties on vanadium redox flow battery performance," Journal of Power Sources, 302, 369- 377 (2016).

J. Clement, D. Aaron, and M.M. Mench, "In-situ localized current distribution measurements in all-vanadium redox flow batteries," Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 163, A5220-A5228 (2016).

A. Pezeshki, Z.J. Tang, C. Fujimoto, C.-N. Sun, M.M. Mench, and T.A. Zawodzinski, "Full cell study of Diels Alder poly(phenylene) anion and cation exchange membranes in vanadium redox flow batteries," Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 163, A5154-A5162 (2016).

A. Pezeshki, R. Sacci, G. Veith, T.A. Zawodzinski, and M.M. Mench, "The cell-in-series method: a technique for accelerated electrode degradation in redox flow batteries," Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 163, A5202-A5210 (2016).

Y.A. Gandomi, D.S. Aaron, T.A. Zawodzinski, and M.M. Mench, "In Situ PotentialDistribution Measurement and Validated Model for All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery," Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 163, A5188-A5201 (2016).

O. Cekmer, S. Um, M.M. Mench, "A combined path-percolation-Lattice-Boltzmann model applied to multiphase mass transfer in porous media," International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 93, 257-272 (2016).

M. M. Mench, "High Hopes for Hydrogen,” Foreign Affairs, 94, 117-123 (2015).

A. Pezeshki, J. Clement, G. Veith, T. Zawodzinski, "High performance electrodes in vanadium redox flow batteries through oxygen-enriched thermal activation," Journal of Power Sources, 294, 333-338 (2015).

O. Cekmer, S. Um, M. M. Mench, “Application of path-percolation theory and Lattice-Boltzmann method to investigate structure-property relationships in porous media,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 86, 101-112 (2015).

C.N. Sun, FM. Delnick, D.S. Aaron, A.B. Papandrew, M.M. Mench, T.A. Zawodzinski, “Resolving Losses at the Negative Electrode in All-Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy,” Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 161 (2014).

Xu, J.M. LaManna, J.T. Clement, M.M. Mench, “Direct measurement of through-plane thermal conductivity of partially saturated fuel cell diffusion media,” Journal of Power Sources, 256, 212-219 (2014).

T.J. Toops, M.P. Brady, F.Y. Zhang, M.M. Mench, H.M. Meyer III, K. Ayers, A. Roemer, L. Dalton, “Evaluation of Nitrided Titanium Separator Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Regenerative Fuel Cell Electrolyze,” Journal of Power Sources, 272 (2014).

Y.A. Gandomi, T.A. Zawodzinski, M.M. Mench, “Concentrated Solution Model of Transport in All Vanadium Redox Flow Battery Membrane Separator,” ECS Transactions, 61, 23-32 (2014).

J.M. LaManna, M.M. Mench, “Engineering Net Water Balance in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells,” ECS Transactions, 64, 451-458 (2014).

A. Z. Weber, R. L. Borup, R. M. Darling, P. K. Das, T. J. Dursch, W. Gu, D. Harvey, A. Kusoglu, S. Litster, M. M. Mench, R. Mukundan,  J. P. Owejan, J. Pharoah, M. Secanell, I. Zenyuk, “A Critical  Review of  Modeling  Transport Phenomena  in  Polymer‐Electrolyte Fuel  Cells,”Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 161, F1254-F1299 (2014).

J. M. LaManna, J. V. Bother, F. Y. Zhang, M. M. Mench, "Measurement of Capillary Pressure in Fuel Cell Diffusion Media, Micro-porous Layers, Catalyst Layers, and Interfaces," Journal of Power Sources 271 (2014): 180-186.

M.P. Manahan, J.T. Clement, A.K. Srouji, S.W. Brown, T. Reutzel, and M.M. Mench, "Laser Modified Fuel Cell Diffusion Media: Engineering Enhanced Performance via Localized Water Redistribution" Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 161, F1-F9 (2014).

Xu, G.Q. LaManna, J. M., Clement, J. T., and Mench, M. M., “Direct measurement of through-plane thermal conductivity of partially saturated fuel cell diffusion media,” Journal Power Sources, 256, 212-219, (2014).

LaManna, Chakraborty, S., Gagliardo, J. J, and Mench, M. M., “Isolation of transport mechanisms in PEFCs using high resolution neutron imaging.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 39, no. 7 (2014): 3387-3396.

Jon P. Owejan, J. P,  Trabold, T. A. , and Mench, M. M., “Oxygen Transport Resistance Correlated to Liquid Water Saturation in the Gas Diffusion Layer of PEM Fuel Cells," International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 71, 585-592 (2014).

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Books

Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Degradation (2011). M. M. Mench, E. C. Kumbur, and T. Nejat Veziroglu Eds. Published by Elsevier.

Mench, M. M. 2008 Fuel Cell Engines, 528 pages. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2008.

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Patents

Kyu Taek Cho, Jong Jin Yoon, Jong Hyun Lee, Matthew M. Mench, and Ahmet Turhan. "Method for removing residual water from fuel cell." U.S. Patent 8,685,584, issued April 1, 2014.

Soo Whan Kim, Jong Jin Yoon, Kyu Taek Cho, Byung Ki Ahn, Jong Hyun Lee, Matthew M. Mench. "Fuel cell bipolar plate for preventing flooding." U.S. Patent 8,535,843 issued September 17, 2013.

Jon P. Owejan, Paul D. Nicotera, Matthew M. Mench, Robert E. Evans. "Low cost fuel cell diffusion layer configured for optimized anode water management." U.S. Patent 8,518,596 issued August 27, 2013.

Patent Applications

Matthew M. Mench, Thomas Zawodzinski, Che-Nan Sun. "High power high efficiency flow type battery" US 20150072261 A1.