Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISEKläre Christmann studied Energy and Environmental Engineering at the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH) and at the Delft University of Technology. While the bachelor's program focused on the fundamentals of process and power engineering, the master's program allowed her to focus on power generation, energy storage and electrochemistry.
In 2017 she started her work at Fraunhofer ISE modelling a fuel cell system as a master thesis project.
In 2018 she started as a PhD in the department fuel cells with focus on the activation of PEM fuel cells. The activation or break-in of fuel cells is a major bottleneck in the ramp-up of fuel cell production. Within her studies she is able to investigate the underlying mechanisms and develop innovative break-in concepts to reduce the activation time.
Within the Fraunhofer funding program DokInCareer she received a scholarship for female PhD candidates and was able to further develop her professional profile through seminars and a mentoring program.
Her work about activation of PEM fuel cell membranes was funded by the ‘Dobeneck-Technologie-Stiftung’.
Since 2022 she is a certified instructor for physics laboratory technicians.
As a project leader of two funded projects BI-FIT and CORAL-HD, Kläre can focus on innovative fuel cell characterization methods, the investigation of activation mechanisms and new activation concepts.