Non Flow-Through (NFT), Advanced Product Water Removal (APWR), Low Temperature PEM Fuel Cell With Reduced Balance of Plant for Air-Independent Applications

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay W. LaGrange ◽  
William F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Water Removal ◽  
Balance Of Plant ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Product Water

Recent developments in applications such as Pulsed Power, Space, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft and underwater vehicles have created interest in the application of air-independent fuel cells. The attraction for such systems has been the potential for high performance, long life and high energy density allowing for extended mission operations and simple recharge. A limitation of such systems, to date, has been the relatively complicated balance of plant required for system operation. This typically requires circulation of one or both reactants to remove product water and distribute reactants. These parasitic systems can reduce the overall efficiency and maintainability of the system, create noise and inhibit or prevent certain missions. Under the sponsorship of the NASA Glenn Research Center Infinity has developed a Non Flow-Through (NFT) Advanced Product Water Removal (APWR) Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell system. The design eliminates the need to actively circulate reactants and can remove water directly from the reaction site within the cell. This low temperature, compact, lightweight technology projects to a system with the operational simplicity and reliability of a battery but with the performance and recharge capability of fuel cells. This paper will report on the operational characteristics, performance and benefits of Infinity’s APWR fuel cell. An update on development status and recent testing results will be included.

scholarly journals Electrochemical Performance Improvement of the Catalyst of the Methanol Micro-Fuel Cell Using Carbon Nanotubes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Kazemi Nasrabadi ◽  
Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam ◽  
Mohammad Hosein Ahmadi ◽  
Ravinder Kumar ◽  
Narjes Nabipour
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Carbon Black ◽  
Oxidation Reaction ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Due to low working temperature, high energy density and low pollution, proton exchange fuel cells have been investigated under different operating conditions in different applications. Using platinum catalysts in methanol fuel cells leads to increasing the cost of this kind of fuel cell which is considered as a barrier to the commercialism of this technology. For this reason, a lot of efforts have been made to reduce the loading of the catalyst required on different supports. In this study, carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been used as catalyst supports of the fuel cell as well as using the double-metal combination of platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) as anode electrode catalyst and platinum (Pt) as cathode electrode catalyst. The performance of these two types of electro-catalyst in the oxidation reaction of methanol has been compared based on electrochemical tests. Results showed that the carbon nanotubes increase the performance of the micro-fuel cell by 37% at maximum power density, compared to the carbon black. Based on thee-electrode tests of chronoamperometry and voltammetry, it was found that the oxidation onset potential of methanol for CNT has been around 20% less than CB, leading to the kinetic improvement of the oxidation reaction. The current density of methanol oxidation reaction increased up to 62% in CNT sample compared to CB supported one, therefore the active electrochemical surface area of the catalyst has been increased up to 90% by using CNT compared to CB which shows the significant rise of the electrocatalytic activity in CNT supported catalyst. Moreover, the resistance of the CNT supported sample to poisonous intermediate species has been found 3% more than CB supported one. According to the chronoamperometry test results, it was concluded that the performance and sustainability of the CNT electro-catalyst show remarkable improvement compared to CB electro-catalyst in the long term.

scholarly journals Electrochemical Performance Improvement of the Catalyst of the Methanol Micro-Fuel Cell Using Carbon Nanotubes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habib Forootan Fard ◽  
Mohammad Kazemi nasrabadi ◽  
Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi ◽  
Ely Salwana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Carbon Black ◽  
Oxidation Reaction ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Due to low working temperature, high energy density and low pollution, proton exchange fuel cells have been investigated under different operating conditions in different applications. Using platinum catalyst in methanol fuel cell leads to increasing the cost of this kind of fuel cells which is considered as a barrier to commercialism of this technology. For this reason, a lot of efforts have been made to reduce the loading of the catalyst required on different supports. In this study, carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been used as catalyst supports of the fuel cell as well as using the double-metal combination of platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) as anode electrode catalyst and platinum (Pt) as cathode electrode catalyst. The performance of these two types of the electro-catalyst in oxidation reaction of methanol has been compared based on electrochemical tests. Results showed that the carbon nanotubes increase the performance of the micro-fuel cell by 37% at maximum power density, compared to the carbon black. Based on thee-electrode tests of chronoamperometry and voltammetry, it was found that oxidation onset potential of methanol for CNT has been around 20% less than CB, leading to the kinetic improvement of the oxidation reaction. In addition, the active electrochemical surface area of catalyst has been increased up to 90% by using CNT compared to CB which shows the significant rise of the electrocatalytic activity in CNT supported catalyst with 62% increase in current density of methanol oxidation reaction respect to CB supported one. Moreover, the resistance of CNT supported sample to poisonous intermediate species has been found 3% more than CB supported one. According to the chronoamperometry test results, it was concluded that the performance and sustainability of NCT electro-catalyst shows remarkable improvement compared to CB electro-catalyst in long term.

Bipolar Plates for PEMFCs

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. C. Sequeira ◽  
L. Amaral
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Manufacturing Process ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Bipolar Plates ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have many advantages among the various types of fuel cells, such as high energy density, low temperature operation, near-zero pollution, and quick starting. Thereby, PEMFCs have been considered as the most promising alternative power sources in the transportation and stationary fields. Among the components of PEMFCs, the bipolar plates are the most representative regarding cost and volume, however, they have relevant functions on the fuel cell stack. There are about 500 bipolar plates in a PEMFC for a typical passenger car and, thus, the commercialization of the fuel cell technology becomes quite challenging. Important key aspects for a successful fuel cell stack are the design and the manufacturing process of the bipolar plate. For efficient mass production, the cycle time of the process is even more important than the material costs. It is, therefore, very important that the used material is appropriate for a fast manufacturing process. Recent developments are overcoming these issues, leading to improvements on the overall fuel cell performance and durability.

Development of PEMFC Systems for Space Power Applications

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerri McCurdy ◽  
Arturo Vasquez ◽  
Karla Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Oxygen Gas ◽  
Product Water ◽  
Exchange Membrane ◽  
High Energy Storage Density ◽  
Gas Supply

Space power applications historically include fuel cells due to the high energy storage density of hydrogen and oxygen compared to batteries. Fuel cells are continuously under development to incorporate latest technology and focus on specific details of fuel cells systems relevant to harsh space transportation environments. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is developing proton exchange membrane fuel cells systems for space power applications because of the potential for longer life, reduction in cost, and increase in safety compared to current alkaline fuel cell technology. Space fuel cell applications utilize oxygen instead of air, which introduces better performance but greater hazards. Circulation of reactants is beneficial for these systems to aid in removal of product water from the fuel cell stack and to humidify reactant fluid streams. Current space fuel cell prototype systems use a simple but effective pump for reactant recirculation known as a gas ejector. A gas ejector uses a high-pressure primary gas supply to produce suction to a secondary fluid at a lower pressure. A gas and water separator is then necessary to remove the fuel cell product water from the unutilized recirculated oxygen. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is analyzing and testing several different means to separate the oxygen gas and water in both microgravity and increased gravity conditions. This paper addresses specific components and design concerns for proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems for space power applications.

The Role of Fuel Cells for Consumer Electronic Products and Toys

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Banazwski ◽  
R. K. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Consumer Electronics ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Direct Methanol

Batteries have not kept pace with the advancing technology that they power, but they are used in everything from cell phones, laptop computers, and toys to consumer electronics. Compared to the devices that they power, batteries are relatively heavy, expensive per unit power they produce, last a relatively short time and recharging them takes hours. The solution to this less than desired means of a power source is fuel cells. Three fuel cells, also referred to as air breathers, considered are proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), and direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFC). We will discuss these fuel cells for micro and portable applications within the power range of 0.5 to 20 W for potential replacement of batteries. The reason for developing such fuel cells is to harness the power stored in the high energy density fuels, which provides more power and longer run times for the same packaging volume as batteries. The advantages of each type of fuel cell over batteries, their unique characteristics, technical drawbacks, current and future consumer products, and commercial issues will be outlined in this paper. A growing mobile society and consumer demands will drive the development of fuel cell technology forward as batteries reach their limit.

scholarly journals Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells with Platinum Group Metal (PGM)-Free Cathode

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Du ◽  
Gaixia Zhang ◽  
Shuhui Sun
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Platinum Group Metals ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Platinum Group ◽  
Exchange Membrane

AbstractProton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have gained increasing interest from academia and industry, due to its remarkable advantages including high efficiency, high energy density, high power density, and fast refueling, also because of the urgent demand for clean and renewable energy. One of the biggest challenges for PEM fuel cell technology is the high cost, attributed to the use of precious platinum group metals (PGM), e.g., Pt, particularly at cathodes where sluggish oxygen reduction reaction takes place. Two primary ways have been paved to address this cost challenge: one named low-loading PGM-based catalysts and another one is non-precious metal-based or PGM-free catalysts. Particularly for the PGM-free catalysts, tremendous efforts have been made to improve the performance and durability—milestones have been achieved in the corresponding PEM fuel cells. Even though the current status is still far from meeting the expectations. More efforts are thus required to further research and develop the desired PGM-free catalysts for cathodes in PEM fuel cells. Herein, this paper discusses the most recent progress of PGM-free catalysts and their applications in the practical membrane electrolyte assembly and PEM fuel cells. The most promising directions for future research and development are pointed out in terms of enhancing the intrinsic activity, reducing the degradation, as well as the study at the level of fuel cell stacks.

scholarly journals Electrochemical Performance Improvement of the Catalyst of the Methanol Micro-Fuel Cell Using Carbon Nanotubes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Kazemi Nasrabadi ◽  
Habib Forootan Fard ◽  
Amir Ebrahimi-Moghadam ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi ◽  
Ravinder Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Carbon Black ◽  
Oxidation Reaction ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Due to low working temperature, high energy density and low pollution, proton exchange fuel cells have been investigated under different operating conditions in different applications. Using platinum catalyst in methanol fuel cell leads to increasing the cost of this kind of fuel cells which is considered as a barrier to the commercialism of this technology. For this reason, a lot of efforts have been made to reduce the loading of the catalyst required on different supports. In this study, carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been used as catalyst supports of the fuel cell as well as using the double-metal combination of platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) as anode electrode catalyst and platinum (Pt) as cathode electrode catalyst. The performance of these two types of the electro-catalyst in oxidation reaction of methanol has been compared based on electrochemical tests. Results showed that the carbon nanotubes increase the performance of the micro-fuel cell by 37% at maximum power density, compared to the carbon black. Based on thee-electrode tests of chronoamperometry and voltammetry, it was found that oxidation onset potential of methanol for CNT has been around 20% less than CB, leading to the kinetic improvement of the oxidation reaction. In addition, the active electrochemical surface area of catalyst has been increased up to 90% by using CNT compared to CB which shows the significant rise of the electrocatalytic activity in CNT supported catalyst with 62% increase in current density of methanol oxidation reaction respect to CB supported one. Moreover, the resistance of CNT supported sample to poisonous intermediate species has been found 3% more than CB supported one. According to the chronoamperometry test results, it was concluded that the performance and sustainability of NCT electro-catalyst shows remarkable improvement compared to CB electro-catalyst in long term.

The development of a highly durable Fe-N-C electrocatalyst with favorable CNT structures for the oxygen reduction in PEMFCs

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Shuiyun Shen ◽  
Ziwen Ren ◽  
Silei Xiang ◽  
Shiqu Chen ◽  
Zehao Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Oxygen Reduction ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Metal Organic Framework ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Rotating Disk Electrode ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Pt Catalyst ◽  
Highly Active

Abstract Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a crucial route for energy saving, emission reduction and the development of new energy vehicles because of its high power density, high energy density as well as the low operating temperature which corresponds to fast starting and power matching. However, the rare and expensive Pt resource greatly hinders the mass production of fuel cell, and the development of highly active and durable non-precious metal catalysts toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the cathode is considered to be the ultimate solution. In this article, a highly active and durable Fe-N-C catalyst was facilely derived from metal organic framework materials (MOFs), and a favorable structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were formed, which accounts for a desired good durability. The as-optimized catalyst has a half-wave potential of 0.84V for the ORR, which is comparable to that of commercial Pt/C. More attractively, it has good stabilities both in rotating disk electrode and single cell tests, which provides a large practical application potential in the replacement of Pt catalyst as the ORR electrocatalyst in fuel cells.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell flow field designs and approaches for performance enhancement

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (8) ◽  
pp. 1189-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erman Çelik ◽  
İrfan Karagöz
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are carbon-free electrochemical energy conversion devices that are appropriate for use as a power source on vehicles and mobile devices emerging with their high energy density, lightweight structure, quick startup and lower operating temperature capabilities. However, they need more developments in the aspects of reactant distribution, less pressure drops, precisely balanced water content and heat management to achieve more reliable and higher overall cell performance. Flow field development is one of the most important fields of study to increase cell performance since it has decisive effects on performance parameters, including bipolar plate, and thus fuel cell weight. In this study, recent developments on conventional flow field designs to eliminate their weaknesses and innovative design approaches and flow field architectures are obtained from patent databases, and both numerical and experimental scientific studies. Fundamental designs that create differences are introduced, and their effects on the performance are discussed with regard to origin, objective, innovation strategy of design besides their strength and probable open development ways. As a result, significant enhancements and design strategies on flow field designs in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are summarized systematically to guide prospective flow field development studies.

Highly Efficient Conversion of Ammonia in Electricity by Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. J. Dekker ◽  
G. Rietveld
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Energy Density ◽  
High Pressures ◽  
Cell Voltage ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Solid Oxide ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Oxide Fuel

Hydrogen is the fuel for fuel cells with the highest cell voltage. A drawback for the use of hydrogen is the low energy density storage capacity, even at high pressures. Liquid fuels such as gasoline and methanol have a high energy density but lead to the emission of the greenhouse gas CO2. Ammonia could be the ideal bridge fuel, having a high energy density at relative low pressure and no (local) CO2 emission. Ammonia as a fuel for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) appears to be very attractive, as shown by cell tests with electrolyte supported cells (ESC) as well as anode supported cells (ASC) with an active area of 81cm2. The cell voltage was measured as function of the electrical current, temperature, gas composition and ammonia (NH3) flow. With NH3 as fuel, electrical cell efficiencies up to 70% (LHV) can be achieved at 0.35A∕cm2 and 60% (LHV) at 0.6A∕cm2. The cell degradation during 3000 h of operation was comparable with H2 fueled measurements. Due to the high temperature and the catalytic active Ni∕YSZ anode, NH3 cracks at the anode into H2 and N2 with a conversion of >99.996%. The high NH3 conversion is partly due to the withdrawal of H2 by the electrochemical cell reaction. The remaining NH3 will be converted in the afterburner of the system. The NOx outlet concentration of the fuel cell is low, typically <0.5ppm at temperatures below 950°C and around 4ppm at 1000°C. A SOFC system fueled with ammonia is relative simple compared with a carbon containing fuel, since no humidification of the fuel is necessary. Moreover, the endothermic ammonia cracking reaction consumes part of the heat produced by the fuel cell, by which less cathode cooling air is required compared with H2 fueled systems. Therefore, the system for a NH3 fueled SOFC will have relatively low parasitic power losses and relative small heat exchangers for preheating the cathode air flow.

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