Integrated Manufacturing for Advanced MEAs

DOE Hydrogen and FC Program Review “Integrated Manufacturing for Advanced MEAs” Topics 1.A.1, 1.A.2 and 1.A.3 June ’04 through May ’05 DE-FC04-02AL67606 Emory S. De Castro E-TEK division, De Nora N.A., Inc. May 2005 This presentation does not contain any proprietary or confidential information DE NORA NORTH AMERICA, Inc. GRUPPO DE NORA Durantes Vincunt FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera FC2 1 Overview Timeline • Project start: 1 Oct ’01 (2 Jan 02) • Project end: 30 June ’06 • Hi T membrane extended Oct 05 • Percent complete ~75% DOE Technical Barriers O. Stack Material and Manufacturing Cost P. Durability Q. Electrode Performance R. Thermal and Water Management DOE Technical Targets (consistent with FreedomCar) Budget • Total project funding:$19.5M – DOE : $14.5M – Contractors: $5M • Funding FY04:$2.73M • Funding for FY05:$4.64M • • • • • • PM loading 2005: 0.6g/ rated kW PM Loading 2010: 0.2g/rated kW >2000 hrs life (2005) >5000 hrs life (2010) Target achieved using method amenable to Mass manufacture: <$125/kWe 2005; <$45/kWe 2010 High Temperature Membrane – All of the above and – Contributes significantly to achieving System efficiency targets DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 2 Objectives 1A1: catalyst and structures • New cathode alloys and ELAT structures that allow an overall cell performance of greater or equal to 0.4A/cm2 at 0.8V or 0.1A/cm2 at 0.85V operating on hydrogen/air with precious metal loadings of 0.3mg/cm2 or less and scales to mass manufacturing technology. Support 1A2 with high temp interface and/or GDL structure. 1A2: Hi T Membrane • • • • • • Operates sub-ambient to 120 °C and 25% to 100% RH Memb. resistance ≤ 0.1 ohm cm2 Hydrolytic, oxidative, mechanical stability in FC at 120 °C No leachable components H2 fuel permeation ≤ than 5 mA/cm2 Cost ≤ Nafion® • 2004/2005 Objectives • 1A1: cited performance at 0.4mg/cm2 using fg-ELAT: transfer to machine fabrication: continue to lower PM, develop high temp interface for A2 materials 1A2: single cell testing of HT membrane, evaluate properties at <0oC, begin scale up of advanced membranes 1A3: scale-up of 1A1 components; testing at stack scale DOE Review May 2005 1A3: MEA Fab for Stack Scale • • Take advances from 1A1 and/or 1A2 and integrate into pilot manufacturing Demonstrate stack scale elements operating with performance consistent with objectives of 1A1 or 1A2 • • FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 3 Team Members responsible for objectives of low precious metal MEAs: NFC Deliverable: testing of short stacks Containing reference and low PM MEAs as well as operational protocols E-TEK (De Nora) Deliverable: Low PM MEAs (5 layer) for short stacks Containing sub-builds, full builds, as well as reference materials CWRU (Prof. Zawodzinski) Deliverable: porosity and hydrophobicity targets to guide fabrication of low PM MEAs through modeling of fg-ELAT NEU (Prof. Mukergee) Deliverable: durability profile and failure mechanism of low PM load MEAs (IBAD and ink based) Spire Biomedical CWRU=Case Western Reserve University NEU=Northeastern University IBAD=Ion Beam Assisted Deposition Deliverable: coating services for ulra-low loaded MEAs (IBAD) including batch and roll processing DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 4 Approach: Catalyst and Fine Gradient ELAT® • • Catalyst: create structure-function relationships supported by Reitveld analysis of XRD patterns; develop/optimize new prep methods for catalysts and alloys: now in scale-up and durability phase GDL/GDE: Develop a new ELAT gas diffusion layer and/or electrode structure based on fine gradients of hydrophobicity and porosity using developmental coating machine – Current focus on machine implementation, and extending approach w machine – Methodology for fine gradient approach: Scale to stack Ink preparation parameters Carbon type Particle size Additives Rheology DOE Review May 2005 FC Performance & characterization GDL/GDE Structure Flow pore Gurley No. Conductivity Hydrophobicity meas. Web properties Coating parameters Paper and Cloth Machine settings FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 5 Catalyst Activities: Durability and scale up Impact of alloy structure and H2O2 production (Rotating Ring Disk Electrode to detect H2O2 formation) Peroxide Yield Comparison Pt Etek 30% vs Pt Cr in Sulfuric Acid 0.10 E (V) RHE 900 vs x H2O2 Pt Etek 30% Col 4 vs x H2O2 PtCr HT 001 Col 7 vs x H2O2 PtCr HT 004 0.08 Having established good activity in 2004, now focused on stability 0.06 x H2O2 ≅ 5.6% ≅ 1.8% 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.04 0.02 0.00 E (V) vs RHE Have scaled alloy to 1Kg, final qualification goal is 3Kg DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 6 Tools to help build the fine gradient: Method to measure Hydrophobicity Contact angle and solid surface energy being developed at CWRU Cobb Titration at E-TEK division Krüss Processor Tensiometer 0.6 COBB TEST: Simple GDL, no gradient “Cobb Titration” Electronic Balance • Sample Holder WT GAIN, g/100cm2 GDL Test Liquid CWRU uses Washburn method with hexane (wetting) and water to measure internal contact angle and surface energy 0.5 0.4 60% PTFE, Carbon 2 0.3 Screw Motor 0.2 Internal Contact Angle to Water theta H2O, GDL Surface Energy gamma s, and its Dispersive and Polar Components gamma sd and gamma sp Sample 30% PTFE, carbon 1 70% PTFE, carbon 1 30% PTFE, carbon 2 70% PTFE, carbon 2 thetaH2O 89 ± 3 101 ± 3 88 ± 7 96 ± 7 gammas 0.1 55% PTFE, Carbon 2 70% PTFE, Carbon 2 gammasd 13 ± 1 13.8 ± 0.8 14 ± 2 14 ± 2 gammasp 8±2 3.1 ± 0.8 8±3 4±2 0 20 30 40 % ETHANOL 50 60 70 80 21 ± 2 17 ± 1 22 ± 4 19 ± 3 Team verified earlier Cobb results with tensiometer However, previous Cobb method unable to discriminate a delta of <10% PTFE Modified the solvent: can measure <5% delta PTFE Plan to extend method to gdl durability tests DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 7 Fine gradient ELAT Comparison of alloy fg ELAT intermediate build Somerset lab cell vs. Nuvera 225 cm2 1.5BarA (150kPa) air/H2, 70 Deg C 1.0 0.9 0.8 Volts 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Somerset Lab Cell Test, alloy fg ELAT intermediate build, 0.40 mg/cm2 Pt Cambridge Nuvera 225 cm2 Cell Stack, alloy fg-ELAT intermediate build 0.63 mg/cm2 Pt Stack scale fg-ELAT constructed by machine and hand steps: supper-scaling at under 0.6A/cm2 Current, A/cm 2 0.8 1.0 Potential / V 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 1.2 (2) fg-ELAT 1mg/cm2 70C 150kPa (1) fg-ELAT 1mg/cm2 80C,250kPa (3) Commercial Benchmark 1mg/cm2 70C 150kPa fg-ELAT, all machine 1) 2) 3) fg-ELAT MEA DOE T and P, PM fg-ELAT MEA 70 deg C, 1mg/cm2 PM Commercial MEA 70 deg C, 1mg/cm2 PM 1mg/cm2 fg-ELAT MEA at DOE T and P with 0.39mg/cm2 PM (0.28mg Pt cat. alloy, 0.11mg Pt anode) results in 0.86V at 0.1A/cm2 and 0.8V at 0.4A/cm2 Review May 2005 achieved DOE – interim goal 0.0 0.5 1.0 Current Density / A/cm 2 1.5 2.0 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 8 Summary of “paper” progress to date: started base build Cathode/Anode: air/H2 150kPa(1.5 Bar A), 70OC; Cell: 70OC, Lynntech CCM 0.0 1.0 0.9 Potential / V 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 commercial standard CCM and paper GDL Commercial paper GDL lynntech CCM Current Density / A/cm 2 base build for fg ELAT gdl lynntech CCM All “standard” 3rd party electrode (CCM) structures All PM loadings are high (~1mg/cm2 total PM) Very encouraging performance for fg sub build Accomplished through extensive changes in formulation and coating variables compared to carbon cloth woven web DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 9 High Temperature Interface with Membrane (V) Du Pont 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 Cell Voltage (V) 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 Current Density (Amp/cm2) Uncertainty on R.H. ± 3% R.H.=30% R.H.=40% Dry R.H.=25% Standard Gradient/machine made Focused effort on formulation and fabrication variables (hand fab interface, machine GDE) Demonstrated >1500 hrs with membrane V under accelerated aging protocol (2003/2004) EXCEEDS POWER GOAL AT 30% RH NOTE: The R.H. was measured at the cathodic and anodic gas inlets using a digital relative humidity sensor (Tech-Edge, Inc.). Experimental conditions: MEA: A) Total (cathode and anode) PM = 1 mg/cm2 B) Electrode: HT140E-W C) Ionomer Interface: Proprietary D) Membrane: DuPont Membrane V Cell: A) R.H. = 25% to 40% B) Gases: Air (Cathode) and H2 (Anode) C) Cell Temperature: 120 oC D) Total Pressure: 2.0 Atm DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 10 Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition Breakthrough in approach: can make 3d structures with ion beam. Improvement in mass transport (~0.14 mg/cm2 total Pt below) Structural Changes vis IBAD @ DOE STD 1.200 1.000 0.800 0.600 0.400 0.200 0.000 0.000 StructureA IBAD 750 StructureB IBAD 750 StructureC IBAD 750 StructureD IBAD 750 StructureE IBAD 750 StructureF IBAD 750 Sample IBAD250 IBAD550 IBAD STD 750 IBAD750 Structure A IBAD1500 Structure A LT140-E ELAT Reference Real Surface Area (cm2/cm2) 26.3 23.8 34.6 70.9 79.6 99.1 Loadings (mg/cm2) 0.034 0.078 0.102 0.071 0.142 0.500 Cell Voltage (V) 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000 1.200 Current Density (Am p/cm 2) Electrochemical Surface Area Measured with fully flooded GDEs, H2 wave, and cyclic voltammetry DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 11 Pt Skin-effect catalysts with IBAD 1 DOE standard conditions (80oC, 250kPa) H2/air 0.8 Cell Voltage (V) Pt-Co Pt-Co Pattern A Pt-Cr Pt-Cr Pattern A IBAD550 Std. LT1400 Host Metal (Pt;) Nafion 112 Membrane Host Metal (Pt;) Guest Metal (Co, Cr, Ag or Ni;) LT1400 0.6 0.4 + - 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 Current Density (A/cm ) • • • • • • Use IBAD to create multi-layer structures such as depositing Co, Cr, Ni, or Ag first, and then covering with a thin layer of Pt (which then contacts the membrane) Can also use new beam-created structures on the multi-layered catalysts According to XRD, these are not alloys Preliminary stability acceptable: will continue detailed durability at NEU Pt:Co “Pattern A” total PM is 110 ug/cm2 Standard gradient ELAT® employed as substrate DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 12 Comparison of “IBAD”, best fg-ELAT, and start-of-program benchmark: total PM/ power vs. V in“GM” format 4.00 ELAT, benchmark 3.50 3.00 2.50 g/kW 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Volts 0.7 0.8 0.9 fg-ELAT 05 IBAD 2005 2005 Goal 2010 Goal Total Pt loading ELAT benchmark: 1mg/cm2 fg-ELAT: 0.39mg/cm2 IBAD/ELAT: 0.17mg/cm2 Pt IBAD deposition on anode and cathode Air H2 250kPa total (2.5BarA), 80oC Nafion 112 Historical Comparison of IBAD results, at DOE Standard Conditions 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 gPt/kW at 80oC, 250kAa total (2.5BarA), H2/Air Significant gains in performance realized through new cathode structures created by ion beam. Showing capability for higher currents as well. C ll V lta e e o g ,V 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Current Density/ A/cm 2 0.8 1 1.2 “improved over initial” Merit Review May 04 80ug/cm2 FreedomCar July 04 100ug/cm2 Q4,’04 Review 170ug/cm2 DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 13 Responses to Reviewers • Improvements should be benchmarked against commercially available components, not necessarily internal or start of program benchmarks – Have shown some examples within this presentation, although obtaining commercial benchmark data at different operating conditions can be difficult – We have also approached third parties to provide comparative data for these new components versus commercial benchmarks. The effort is on-going. • IBAD approach may be limited in these assemblies’ capability to achieve high current – especially beyond the quarter power goal of this program – The recent breakthrough has allowed a substantial improvement in higher current operation: however, we now need to “reinvent” the GDL to respond to this unique interface for improved water management • Efforts on the fabrication of electrodes for the high temperature membranes of Du Pont should be increased – 2003/2004 saw limited quantities of samples: however, improvements by the Du Pont team in solving materials issues in making membranes has provided more material for 2004/2005. We expect some of the understanding learned from making an interface/electrode for Membrane V may be applicable to the other new materials being developed by Du Pont. Electrode assembly with new membrane materials is a key focus for 2005/2006, as well as scaling Membrane V assemblies to stack scale. DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 14 Accomplishments/Progress • The team continued to increase power and reduce PM loading • • • • • – Met interim goal of 0.8V at 0.4A/cm2 and greater than 0.85V 0.1A/cm2 at DOE test conditions with under 0.4 mg Pt/cm2 total using coating technology suitable for mass manufacturing Implementation of fg-ELAT approach on non-woven materials begun: outstanding results with baseline structures may provide a path to achieving final power/PM goals Strategy for introducing designed structures for IBAD based fabrications continues to show improvements in power and mass transport at higher currents while approaching 2010 PM loading targets: new approach is subject to a patent application. Realized catalytic activity with layered metal structures Have shown first generation high temperature interface capable of approaching DOE power goal with Du Pont’s modified membrane (“Membrane V”) Developed much-needed methods to quantitatively measure hydrophobicity for GDL materials. Although initially used to design fine gradient ELAT, these methods will have utility in durability studies Began baseline 1,000 hr constant current durability operation DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 15 Next Steps • Reduce PM loading to 0.3mg/cm2 and scale results to stack level – optimize fg-ELAT approach through structure refinement and machine practices – develop fg-ELAT on non-woven web – Use next generation CWRU/CAPI modeling to guide structure design • • Catalyst – Scale up prep for improved alloys: 3Kg target – Continue ex-situ lifetime tests; post-mortem MEA/catalyst analysis Ultra-low PM loading (IBAD) – Develop new GDL structures tailored to the unique IBAD “Pt-layered” interface to realize full catalytic potential of these new materials – Lifetime/durability analysis of IBAD structures (at NEU) – Transition to continuous coating • Durability – Develop durability protocol and methods at stack level (NFC) • Refine to incorporate at single cell scale at E-TEK – Using new hydrophobicity measurements, analyze fine gradient sub builds under forced aging regimes for change in hydrophobicity – Durability testing of machine made fine gradient ELAT MEAs DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 16 Program 1A2: High Temperature Membrane General Approach Evaluate small molecule electrolytes Synthesize Polymers Start Synthesize monomers e.g. H, M, Y Synthesize monomers AE, Z Class Evaluate Conductivity Evaluate Thermal Stability & Swelling Fabricate membranes HT FC Testing e.g. Nafion® and inorganic composites End Program officially ended Oct 2004: however encouraging advances in new classes of polyelectrolytes justified an extension of one year for Du Pont’s activities. Programs for the other team members were accordingly. DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 17 Team Members responsible for objectives of high temperature MEAs: NFC Deliverable: testing of short stacks Containing reference and high temperature MEAs as well as operation protocol E-TEK (De Nora) Deliverable: High T MEAs (5 layer) for short stacks Containing high temperature interface as well as reference materials CWRU (Prof. Zawodzinski) Deliverable: porosity and hydrophobicity targets to guide fabrication of high temp interface Du Pont Deliverable: at least two types of high temperature membranes Enough of one for stack level testing NEU (Prof. Mukergee) Deliverable: 1. durability profile of “ultra low” PM load MEAs (IBAD) at Hi T 2. durability profile of High Temp Interface DOE Review May 2005 CWRU (Prof. Litt) Deliverable: High T membrane Structures and synthesis for materials fulfilling “ uncollapsible hydrophilic domains” CWRU=Case Western Reserve University NEU=Northeastern University IBAD=Ion Beam Assisted Deposition FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 18 1A2 High Temperature Membrane Past year focused on 3 technology options: Polymer Candidate V Candidate BA Type Per-fluorinated composite membrane Partially fluorinated composite membrane AE: perfluorinated Design & synthesis of partially fluorinated polymers Features FC lifetime at 120 C increased vs Nafion®; similar conductivity Increased conductivity vs Nafion® AE: Best conductivity (73 mS/cm 25%RH), thermal & chem. stability. Challenge to insolubilize & strengthen AE - type DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 19 High Temperature Membrane: Focus areas for 04/05 Conductive at Low RH AF, AK, BB, AY, AX AE ? BA AO Thermally Stable PBI, Teflon® Nafion®, V, BG Additional dimensions: Chem. & oxid. stability Low-T conductivity (new) H2 permeation Cost FC durability …. DOE Review May 2005 Polyelectrolyte Insoluble Reasonable Swelling Mechanical Strength Y, AZ 04/05 Focus FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 20 Candidate V • • Properties similar to Nafion®: – Conductivity, strength, swelling, H2 permeation F5570 Life Test Candidate V 40um 0.950 OCV 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 Current (A/cm2) Clean clogged filter on humidifier 0.930 0.910 0.890 OCV (Volts) Properties superior to Nafion®: – Fenton test chemical stability – Lifetime in FC 1.2 1.0 70% RH 0.870 0.850 0.830 0.810 25% RH • Life tests at 120 show cycling feeds to lower RH accelerates membrane degradation. – New protocol cycling to 25% RH – More aggressive than pervious cycling to 40% RH – 1000 hr life test Candidate V oC 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0 500 Time (hr) 1000 0.790 0.770 0.750 • • Membrane scaled-up to size for 250 cm2 short stack; Delivered 17 membranes to De Nora Future V work: Increase strength & decrease swelling DOE Review May 2005 120 oC H2/air 21 psig 25 cm2 active area Const. flow = stoic 2/2 anode/cath. @ 1.2 A/cm2 Triple cycle: 1) 10 min OCV 70/70 %RH 2) 5hr 0.5V 70/70 %RH 3) 5hr 0.5V 25/25 %RH FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 21 Progress BA Membrane • Thermal stability of BA membrane significantly improved • Thermal decomposition dominated by weak-link impurity – ‘04 Focus: Identify impurity, decrease impurity Isothermal TGA 150 oC air + 0.5% RH 95 -0.0070 %/hr Nafion(R) N112 BA 200X reduced impurity -0.0079 %/hr 91 BA 14X reduced impurity • BA membrane with weak links decreased to 1/200 of original – Thermal stability similar to Nafion® DOE Review May 2005 weight (%) 93 89 87 0 500 time (min) 1000 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 22 Low-RH Conductivity • Conductivities – BA membranes with high IEC – Up to 45 mS/cm @ 120 0C, 25% RH – Can still be boiled in water 50 45 Conductivity (mS/cm) 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 IEC (meq/g) Nafion N117 BA Condutivity @ 120 oC 25%RH • Mechanical properties – Poor for IEC above 1.7 meq/g in current BA membranes • IEC in the range of 1.3 to 1.6 meq/g – 2X to 2.5X conductivity of Nafion® – Maintains mechanical properties – Swelling 62% water uptake • @1.6 IEC • 100 0C water → 22 0C vacuum DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 23 Low-Temperature Conductivity • New measurement method gives low hysterisis between 0 oC and -40 oC – 4-point probe of initially-wet membrane cooled/heated in cryo GC log(Conductivity S/cm) -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1.0 -1.2 -1.4 -1.6 -1.8 -2.0 -2.2 -2.4 -2.6 -45 -35 -25 -15 -5 5 15 25 Temperature (deg. C) Nafion® NRE212 temp down Nafion® NRE212 temp up BA 1.7 IEC temp down BA 1.7 IEC temp up • • • BA membrane maintains significant advantage over Nafion® only to -20 oC At -40 oC, both membranes have similar conductivity Due to BA having many of the membrane properties, and good relative conductivity over a wide range of temperatures, the High Temperature Membrane Program was extended DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 24 FC Performance BA vs N112 • BA membrane – 53 µm thick – Similar to Nafion® N112 thickness 0.95 0.90 0.85 0.80 Cell Voltage (V) 0.75 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.55 0.50 0.45 0.40 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 F5491 F5658 120 oC H 2/air 250 kPa 25 cm2 GDE N112 70%RH N112 25%RH BA 70%RH BA 25%RH • Superior performance to N112 at low RH. – Even though electrodes are still PFSA • Future work on BA – – – – Deliver samples to De Nora Reduce wrinkles & swelling Increase FC durability Will ultimately need also electrodes based on BA or other adv. electrolyte to deliver MEA performance Current Density (A/cm2) DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 25 AE Type • Immobilization strategy identified for AE-type polymer • New monomers and partially fluorinated copolymer synthesized - Candidate BL – Succeed in obtaining high MW and tough membrane • Mw 124,000, IV 3.5 – Membrane is insoluble in room-temp water, soluble in hot water • Partially success on immobilization (make insoluble) • Melting of polymer, Tm 126 oC (76 J/g), needs to be raised – Monomer chemistry compromised stability & conductivity • Thermal stability, Tonset 228 oC (too low to be practical) • Conductivity 360 mS/cm @95%RH 80C, only 0.2 mS/cm @25%RH • Future AE work: Strategies identified to increase thermal stability, melting point, and conductivity – Monomer syntheses begun DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 26 Acknowledgements De Nora N.A. E-TEK div • Yu-Min Tsou, Ph.D. • Lixin Cao, Ph.D. • Hua Deng, MS, ChE • Chien Hou • Michael Schneider • Maria Cayetano • Jeffrey Morse • Laura Bellamy Northeastern University DuPont • Prof. Sanjeev Mukerjee • Mark Roelofs, Ph.D • Robert J. Allen (E-TEK) Distinguished (Project Leader) Visiting Scientist • • • • • CWRU/CAPI Tom Zawodzinski, Ph.D. Vladimir Gurau, Ph.D. Andrea F. Gullá (E-TEK), Ph.D. Basker Veeraraghavan, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Fellow) Madhusudan Saha, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral fellow) Vivek Srinivasamurthi (Ph.D. candidate) Kartikeyan Ramamoorthi (Ph.D. candidate) Spire Biomedical Nadar Kalkhoran, Ph.D. Jason Burns NFC Olga Polevaya Stack Testing Team • • • • • • • • R. Dan Lousenberg, Ph.D. Mark Teasley, Ph.D. Zhen-yu Yang, Ph.D. Rosa Ruiz-Alsop, Ph.D. John J. Borowski Robin Blackburn David Lilly Charles Wheeler Case Western Reserve U. • Prof. Morton Litt • Casey Check (Graduate Student) DE NORA NORTH AMERICA, Inc. GRUPPO DE NORA Durantes Vincunt DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 27 Publications and Presentations By CWRU • • M. Bluemle, V. Gurau, J. A. Mann, T. A. Zawodzinski Jr., E. S. De Castro, Y. M. Tsou: “Characterization of Transport Properties In Gas Diffusion Layers for PEMFCs”, 206th Meeting of Electrochem. Soc., Honolulu, Ha, October 2-8, 2004 M. Bluemle, V. Gurau, J. A. Mann, T. A. Zawodzinski Jr., E. S. De Castro, Y. M. Tsou: “Permeability and Wettability Measurements for Gas Diffusion Layers for PEM Fuel Cells”, 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar. San Antonio, TX, November 1-5, 2004 By NEU • 'High Performance Electrode with very Low Pt Loading Prepared by Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition in PEM Fuel Cells' M. S. Saha, S. Mukerjee, A. F. Gulla and R. J. Allen' Extended Abstracts for the Meeting of the Electrochemical Society to be held in Quebec, Canada, May 2005. 'Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition as a Method to Obtain Low Loading-High Performance Electrodes for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells', A. F. Gulla, M. S. Saha, R. J. Allen and S. Mukerjee, Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, (Submitted) 'Oxygen Reduction and Transport Characteristics at a Platinum and Alternative Proton Conducting Membrane Interface' L. Zhang, C. Ma and S. Mukerjee, J. Electroanalytical Chemistry 58, 273 (2004). • • By E-TEK • Hua Deng, Qingzhi Guo; Maria Cayetano; Yu-Min Tsou; Emory Sayre De Castro, "An Investigation of Ionic Conductivity of the PEMFC by AC Impedance Spectroscopy", Meeting of Electrochem. Soc., Honolulu, Ha, October 2-8, 2004 Yu-Min Tsou, Lixin Cao, Emory De Castro “High Performance Oxygen Reduction Catalyst For PEM and DMFC Fuel Cells” Meeting of Electrochem. Soc., San Antonio, Tx May, 2004 Emory S. De Castro, Yu-Min Tsou, Lixin Cao and Chien Hou “Approaches for low cost components and MEAs for PEFCs: current and future directions”, Fuel Cell Seminar, San Antonio, Nov, 2004 Emory S. De Castro, “New Nano-Catalysts and Reduction of Component Costs for Portable Fuel Cells”, Small Fuel Cells, Arlington, Va., April 2004 DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera • • • 28 Hydrogen Safety The most significant hydrogen hazard associated with this project is: Testing single cells or short stacks at higher temperature with novel membrane materials pinholes/cross over at the higher temperatures may lead to more catastrophic consequences DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 29 Hydrogen Safety • Our approach to deal with this hazard is: – Stations in ventilated enclosures with 3 levels of hydrogen detection & interlocks. H2 Detector “Open Space” around test station plumbing All fuel cell hardware contained within ventilated enclosure DOE Review May 2005 FC2 De Nora - Du Pont - Nuvera 30