Advances in rapid and effective break-in/conditioning/recovery of automotive PEMFC stacks

Automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks need to meet manufacturer specified rated beginning-of-life (BOL) performance before being assembled into vehicles and shipped off to customers. The process of “breaking-in” of a freshly assembled stack is often referred to as “conditioning.” It has become an intensely researched area especially in automotive companies, where imminent commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) demands a short, energy- and cost-efficient, and practical conditioning protocol. Significant advances in reducing the conditioning time from 1 to 2 days to as low as 4h or less, in some cases without the use of additional inert gases such as nitrogen, and with minimal use of hydrogen, and specialized test stations will be discussed.     

Edge-enriched graphene with boron and nitrogen co-doping for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction

Carbon-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), especially in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), have received a lot of attention because they exhibit excellent stability and are comparable to commercial Pt/C catalysts. Currently, to maximize the catalytic activity of carbon-based electrocatalysts, there are two major strategies: heteroatom doping or exposing active edge sites. However, the approach of increasing heteroatomic dopants of active edge sites has been rarely addressed. In this study, we present a simple strategy to prepare edge-enriched graphene catalysts with an increased ratio of heteroatomic dopants suitable for ORR of AEMFCs. The catalysts were prepared under harsh oxidation conditions, followed by a simple co-doping process with boron and nitrogen. The ORR activity of the catalysts was observed to be related to an increase of edge sites with heteroatomic dopants. We believe that the edge-enriched structure leads to accelerated electron transfer with enhanced oxygen adsorption.     

从废水到新能源:光催化燃料电池的优化与应用

随着经济的飞速发展,社会对能源的需求日益扩大,对工业废水的无害化处理也提出了更高的要求。光催化燃料电池 (photocatalytic fuel cell, PFC) 在燃料电池中引入半导体光催化材料作为电极,实现了有机污染物高效降解和同步对外产电的双重功能,在废水无害化与资源化利用方面具有潜在的应用价值。半导体光催化电极是PFC系统高效运行的核心组件,增强其可见光响应和光生载流子分离是提高PFC性能的关键策略。反应器结构设计和运行参数优化也有利于改善PFC性能。本文从PFC基本原理和应用入手,综述了PFC在环境污染物资源化处理中的研究进展,并详细阐述了提高PFC的污染控制性能和产电效率的优化手段,为进一步设计高效稳定的PFC系统并实现其在水污染控制和清洁能源生产中的应用提供理论指导。     

不同重力环境下辐射加热材料表面着火特性分析

研究外界辐射加热下，不同重力环境中热薄燃料的着火特性．探讨了重力、环境氧浓度、环境压力及外界辐射强度对着火的影响．结果表明，随着重力的变化，存在不同的着火机制．在微重力和在高的环境氧浓度中，材料的着火延迟时间变短．压力减小，着火延迟时间增大．随着辐射强度的增大，着火延迟时间变小．     

High-throughput screening of fuel cell electrocatalysts

The drawbacks of our earlier report of preparing fuel cell catalyst arrays by borohydride reduction of inkjet prepared arrays of metal salts are discussed along with the need for inclusion of state-of-the-art metrics in all array screening. An alternative method for screening of hydrogen/air cathode catalysts, direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) anode catalysts, and catalyst loading studies is provided. State-of-the-art Johnson Matthey catalysts were used in control experiments to demonstrate the utility of the array fuel cell for high throughput screening of fuel cell catalysts in the 3-4 mg/cm² range. This report lays out hard learned rules for high throughput screening and demonstrates that the array fuel cell can be used for very precise screening of libraries of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) components without the pitfalls discussed in the introduction.     

Optimization of Mass Transfer Processes in the Zone of the Air Electrode of a Fuel Cell with a Solid Polymer Electrolyte

A two-dimensional mathematical model for the transport of reactants in a fuel cell with a solid polymer electrolyte is developed. The model is used for analyzing spatial distributions of the concentration of reactants and current density over the cell. The effect of the catalytic-layer activity, reactant speed, bipolar-plate geometry, thickness and porosity of current collector and/or gas-diffusion sublayer, and the reaction mixture composition on the fuel cell efficiency is estimated theoretically and experimentally.     

DME/LPG混合燃料HCCI燃烧模拟

根据碳氢燃料化学反应系统具有层次结构的特性,本文通过分析二甲醚(DME)与液化石油气(LPG)的详细化学反应机理,构建了反映DME／LPG混合燃料均质压燃(HCCI)燃烧的详细化学反应机理．采用该机理应用单区燃烧模型对DME／LPG混合燃料HCCI燃烧的化学反应动力学过程进行了数值计算．计算结果与试验结果对比表明,所构建的DME／LPG混合燃料氧化的详细化学反应机理能够准确预测DME／LPG混合燃料的两阶段放热特性,对低温和高温着火始点的预测很好;但高温反应过程预测欠佳,高温反应机理需要改进．     

“Slow” active control of combustion instabilities by modification of liquid fuel spray properties

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the feasibility of using “slow” active control approaches, which “instantaneously” change liquid fuel spray properties, to suppress combustion instabilities. The objective of this control approach was to break up the feedback between the combustion process heat release and combustor pressure oscillations that drive the instability by changing the characteristics of the combustion process (e.g., the characteristic combustion time). To demonstrate the feasibility of such control, this study used a proprietary fuel injector (Nanomiser^TM), which can vary its fuel spray properties, to investigate the dependence of acoustics–combustion process coupling, i.e., the driving of combustion instabilities, upon the fuel spray properties. This study showed that by changing the spray characteristics it is possible to significantly damp combustion instabilities. Furthermore, using combustion zone chemiluminescence distributions, which were obtained by Abel’s deconvolution synchronized with measured acoustic data, it has been shown that the instabilities were mostly driven midway between the combustor centerline and wall, a short distance downstream from the flame holder, where the mean axial flow velocity is approximately zero in the vortex near the flame holder. The results of this study strongly suggest that a “slow” active control system that employs controllable fuel injectors could be effectively used to prevent the onset of detrimental combustion instabilities.     

Paper-like Microfibrous Nickel Catalyst for Hydrogen Production via NH3 Decomposition in Fuel Cell Applications

Recently, miniature H2 generator to power fuel cells for portable/micro electronic devices and passenger propulsion has been the focus of intense research activities1-3. One of the strategies is to find simple CO-free H2 production with novel microreactor…     

电控发动机喷油脉宽的分析

本文介绍了利用喷油脉宽大小的变化来分析电控发动机电控系统、燃油供给等系统故障的一种方法,在汽车故障检测与诊断中有着广泛的应用。