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.     

Phosphoric-Acid Retention in High-Temperature Proton-Exchange Membranes

Great efforts have been conducted to develop high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) due to its features of enhanced electrocatalyst reactivity, simplified hydrothermal management system and high CO tolerance of catalysts, and remarkable progress has been achieved. However, the easy leaching of phosphoric acid (PA) from the membranes during operation limits its commercial scale-up in complicated environments. This concept here mainly focuses on the recent developments for mitigation of PA loss in PEMs. The probable mechanisms of PA loss are proposed. The approaches to improve PA retention for example via introduction of phosphonic acid by covalent bond, using ion-pairs interaction and siphoning effect, and blending with inorganic nanoparticles are described in detail. Among these strategies, the siphoning effect from the intrinsic microporous PEMs is the most efficient and enables the cell to operate flexibly within a broad temperature range. Therefore, this concept may provide new ideas for the scientists to retain PA, to improve the cell performance and expand the potential applications of PA doped PEMs at elevated humidity and wide temperature range.     

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。     

氧离子传导型固体氧化物电解池燃料电极的研究进展

固体氧化物电解池可高效地电解H₂O/CO₂制备燃料,越来越受到人们的重视. 本文对近年来在燃料电极（阴极）材料方面的研究进展进行了全面综述,指出各种阴极材料的优缺点及发展趋势,强调亟待解决的关键科学与技术问题.     

基于平面度的燃料电池电化学性能模拟

 固体氧化物燃料电池的翘曲会影响电极-盖板界面的接触情况，从而影响电化学性能，对相关制造工艺提出了很大的挑战．为了分析燃料电池平面度对放电过程的影响，揭示其潜在的风险，我们建立了两个基于有限元法的仿真模型，对考虑平面度缺陷的燃料电池封装和放电进行分析．在对固体氧化物燃料电池进行平面度测量的基础上，首先建立了具有真实燃料电池翘曲特性的几何模型，分析封装过程中接触压力的分布情况．然后将接触电阻的仿真结果导入到三维多物理场耦合模型中，模拟具有平面度缺陷的燃料电池电化学性能．计算结果展示了燃料电池两侧封装过程中接触压力的分布情况．通过对比有接触电阻和无接触电阻的燃料电池电流密度，分析了电池与盖板的接触对放电过程的影响．结果表明，燃料电池的凹陷面较难达到满意的接触状态，需要比凸起面更大的封装压力．燃料电池表面接触电阻的变化将引起电流传导路径的变化，产生局部高电流或低电流．这项工作强调了在燃料电池中保持均匀分布的接触电阻的重要性，为今后的优化工作奠定了基础．     

微生物燃料电池阴极脱氮

微生物燃料电池(MFC)阴极电子受体的多样性可实现其阴极脱氮,从而将产生的电能合理利用,因此阴极脱氮成为了MFC的一个研究方向,同时也为实际废水中氮素的去除提供了新的可能。然而在反应过程中有众多因素会导致NOx-N与其他电子受体竞争阳极电子的现象,影响阴极反硝化过程对于电子的利用率,从而造成脱氮效率低等现实问题。目前已有许多研究通过优化MFC自身结构弥补产电的缺陷,及将与其他工艺系统耦合实现同步硝化反硝化等方法,取长补短以增加脱氮效率,降低对碳源的需求,以此解决微生物燃料电池阴极脱氮出现的问题。本文从MFC不同的脱氮历程、MFC工艺条件(pH、C/N、DO)、极室分隔材料等影响MFC阴极脱氮的因素及影响其阴极反硝化微生物群落构成等方面,进行了综述并预测未来研究方向。     

单气室固体氧化物燃料电池的材料、微堆结构与相关应用

单气室固体氧化物燃料电池（SC-SOFC）是一种整个电池处在单一气室中,阳极和阴极分别对混合气体中的燃料和氧气进行选择催化产生电动势的特殊结构燃料电池. SC-SOFC因其独特的原理和结构而具有无需密封、易于堆叠、可以快速启动和不易发生积碳等诸多优点,有很大的应用潜力. 作者在SC-SOFC的原理和特点的基础上,系统地总结了SC-SOFC所用材料、微堆结构设计、衰退机制及应用方面的研究进展;以提高SC-SOFC微堆的输出电压和功率为目的,改进预混气体环境下运行的微堆结构,采取星型布局的四电池微堆其输出功率提高到420 mW;随后,逐步改进供气方式,结合计算流体力学数值模拟研究,提出了单路多点供气和双路多点供气模式,成功地将单个SC-SOFC微堆模块的输出功率提升到8.178 W,进而开展了微堆模块外部串并联和与燃烧器的结合实验验证. 研究结果表明,SC-SOFC可以很便捷地连接成微堆模块并产生数瓦的输出功率,未来有望用于以供热为主型的热电联供系统. 作者还借助原位电阻和开路电压的原位同步测试,阐明了Ni在CH₄-O₂气氛中的反复氧化-还原循环是SC-SOFC发生不可逆衰退的主要机制,这一发现后来催生出氧化-还原法制备多孔金属的新技术.     

Double-Shelled C@MoS2 Structures Preloaded with Sulfur: An Additive Reservoir for Stable Lithium Metal Anodes

The growth of Li dendrites hinders the practical application of lithium metal anodes (LMAs). In this work, a hollow nanostructure, based on hierarchical MoS₂ coated hollow carbon particles preloaded with sulfur (C@MoS₂/S), was designed to modify the LMA. The C@MoS₂ hollow nanostructures serve as a good scaffold for repeated Li plating/stripping. More importantly, the encapsulated sulfur could gradually release lithium polysulfides during the Li plating/stripping, acting as an effective additive to promote the formation of a mosaic solid electrolyte interphase layer embedded with crystalline hybrid lithium-based components. These two factors together effectively suppress the growth of Li dendrites. The as-modified LMA shows a high Coulombic efficiency of 98 % over 500 cycles at the current density of 1 mA cm⁻². When matched with a LiFePO₄ cathode, the assembled full cell displays a highly improved cycle life of 300 cycles, implying the feasibility of the proposed LMA.     

Optimal method for preparing sulfonated polyaryletherketones with high ion exchange capacity by acid-catalyzed crosslinking for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Sulfonated polyaryletherketones (SPAEK) bearing four sulfonic acid groups on the phenyl side groups were synthesized. The benzophenone moiety of polymer backbone was further reduced to benzydrol group with sodium borohydride. The membranes were crosslinked by acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reaction without sacrifice of sulfonic acid groups and ion exchange capacity (IEC) values. Crosslinked membranes with the same IEC value but different water uptake could be prepared. The optimal crosslinking condition was investigated to achieve lower water uptake, better chemical stability (Fenton's test), and higher proton conductivity. In addition, the hydrophilic ionic channels from originally course and disordered could be modified to be narrow and continuous by this crosslinking method. The crosslinked membranes, CS4PH-40-PEKOH (IEC = 2.4 meq./g), reduced water uptake from 200 to 88% and the weight loss was reduced from 11 to 5% during the Fenton test compared to uncrosslinked one (S4PH-40-PEK). The membrane showed comparable proton conductivity (0.01–0.19 S/cm) to Nafion 212 at 80°C from low to high relative humidity (RH). Single H₂/O₂ fuel cell based on the crosslinked SPAEK with catalyst loading of 0.25 mg/cm² (Pd/C) exhibited a peak power density of 220.3 mW/cm², which was close to that of Nafion 212 (214.0 mW/cm²) at 80°C under 53% RH. These membranes provide a good option as proton exchange membrane with high ion exchange capacity for fuel cells.     

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.