Having received his Masters degree in Physics from the Technical University of Aachen in 1990 for research on chemical sensors with C.-D. Kohl, he joined the Debye Institute, Utrecht, as a postgraduate fellow working on base metal oxidation with F. Habraken. Subsequently, he studied elementary catalytic surface processes in D.A. King’s group at Cambridge, UK, from where he received his PhD in 1994. From 1995 until 1999, he was Senior and subsequently Principal Scientist at Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, Reading, UK, where his main interest was in the interaction of fuel processor, clean-up and fuel cell and where he was in charge of anode technology for fuel cells.

In October 1999, he was appointed Professor for Hydrogen Technology and Fuel Cells/Renewable Energy. In 2000, he also became a Visiting Reader at the University of Southampton. He is the author of 25 papers and a number of patents. His Fuel Cell Technology Handbook (CRC Press) was first published in 2003.