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Energies
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Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells
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Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A5: Hydrogen Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 20686

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. K. Andreas Friedrich

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Guest Editor
1. German Aerospace Center, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
2. Institute for Building Energetics, Thermotechnology and Energy Storage, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and solid oxide fuel crells (SOFC); reaction and transport mechanisms; local degradation phenomena; performance and durability limitations; reduction of critical materials, in particular PGM loading; accelerated stress tests
Dr. Pawel Gazdzicki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
German Aerospace Center, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Dr. Rémi Costa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
German Aerospace Center, Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fuel cells are acknowledged as an essential part of the necessary transition of the future energy system. They contribute, in particular, to emission reduction in many parts of the world, helping to fulfil international commitments to climate protection. Fuel cell development has reached an advanced maturity stage, as demonstrated by the first series cars from Asian manufacturers and the successful market penetration of residential fuel cell systems in Japan. However, essential processes in fuel cells are still not understood well enough for rational development: Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for transport application require a further reduction of PGM content, which leads to additional issues that limit performance and durability. These issues are still not well understood and need to be elucidated in detail, taking into account state-of-the-art materials as well as novel cell materials. In solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), cost reduction is pursued by developing new operation regimes (lower temperatures, less poisoning or deposition effects) with novel materials for electrodes, electrolytes, and bipolar plates, e.g., ultra-thin electrolyte layers or proton-conducting materials. The mechanisms of the reactions and transport processes have not been clarified for many systems. Moreover, the durability of fuel cells can be substantially increased by applying an appropriate operation strategy that mitigates critical events and undesired operation conditions which are also of great relevance to the fuel cell community. In this respect, multiscale multiphysics models for the description of dynamics processes in functional layers, cells, and stacks with high spatial resolution and with prediction capability are gaining importance.

Accordingly, this Special Issue “Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells” welcomes contributions by experimental as well as by modeling works elucidating essential processes of solid-state fuel cells at the cell component up to stack level, including derived control strategies and accelerated stress tests.

Prof. Dr. K. Andreas Friedrich
Dr. Pawel Gazdzicki
Dr. Rémi Costa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Performance and durability limitations in cells and stacks (PEMFC, SOFC)
  • Reduction or elimination of critical materials in fuel cells
  • Transport and reaction mechanisms
  • Reversible and irreversible degradation
  • Control strategy
  • Accelerated stress testing
  • Challenges in AEMFC and HT-PEMFC

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6584 KiB  
Article
Advancement of Segmented Cell Technology in Low Temperature Hydrogen Technologies
by Indro Biswas, Daniel G. Sánchez, Mathias Schulze, Jens Mitzel, Benjamin Kimmel, Aldo Saul Gago, Pawel Gazdzicki and K. Andreas Friedrich
Energies 2020, 13(9), 2301; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13092301 - 06 May 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4238
Abstract
The durability and performance of electrochemical energy converters, such as fuel cells and electrolysers, are not only dependent on the properties and the quality of the used materials. They strongly depend on the operational conditions. Variations in external parameters, such as flow, pressure, [...] Read more.
The durability and performance of electrochemical energy converters, such as fuel cells and electrolysers, are not only dependent on the properties and the quality of the used materials. They strongly depend on the operational conditions. Variations in external parameters, such as flow, pressure, temperature and, obviously, load, can lead to significant local changes in current density, even local transients. Segmented cell technology was developed with the purpose to gain insight into the local operational conditions in electrochemical cells during operation. The operando measurement of the local current density and temperature distribution allows effective improvement of operation conditions, mitigation of potentially critical events and assessment of the performance of new materials. The segmented cell, which can replace a regular bipolar plate in the current state of the technology, can be used as a monitoring tool and for targeted developments. This article gives an overview of the development and applications of this technology, such as for water management or fault recognition. Recent advancements towards locally resolved monitoring of humidity and to current distributions in electrolysers are outlined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells)
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30 pages, 5962 KiB  
Article
The Relation of Microstructure, Materials Properties and Impedance of SOFC Electrodes: A Case Study of Ni/GDC Anodes
by Andreas Nenning, Cornelia Bischof, Jürgen Fleig, Martin Bram and Alexander K. Opitz
Energies 2020, 13(4), 987; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13040987 - 22 Feb 2020
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6038
Abstract
Detailed insight into electrochemical reaction mechanisms and rate limiting steps is crucial for targeted optimization of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes, especially for new materials and processing techniques, such as Ni/Gd-doped ceria (GDC) cermet anodes in metal-supported cells. Here, we present a [...] Read more.
Detailed insight into electrochemical reaction mechanisms and rate limiting steps is crucial for targeted optimization of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes, especially for new materials and processing techniques, such as Ni/Gd-doped ceria (GDC) cermet anodes in metal-supported cells. Here, we present a comprehensive model that describes the impedance of porous cermet electrodes according to a transmission line circuit. We exemplify the validity of the model on electrolyte-supported symmetrical model cells with two equal Ni/Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95-δ anodes. These anodes exhibit a remarkably low polarization resistance of less than 0.1 Ωcm2 at 750 °C and OCV, and metal-supported cells with equally prepared anodes achieve excellent power density of >2 W/cm2 at 700 °C. With the transmission line impedance model, it is possible to separate and quantify the individual contributions to the polarization resistance, such as oxygen ion transport across the YSZ-GDC interface, ionic conductivity within the porous anode, oxygen exchange at the GDC surface and gas phase diffusion. Furthermore, we show that the fitted parameters consistently scale with variation of electrode geometry, temperature and atmosphere. Since the fitted parameters are representative for materials properties, we can also relate our results to model studies on the ion conductivity, oxygen stoichiometry and surface catalytic properties of Gd-doped ceria and obtain very good quantitative agreement. With this detailed insight into reaction mechanisms, we can explain the excellent performance of the anode as a combination of materials properties of GDC and the unusual microstructure that is a consequence of the reductive sintering procedure, which is required for anodes in metal-supported cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells)
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16 pages, 4560 KiB  
Article
Analysis of HT-PEM MEAs’ Long-Term Stabilities
by Julian Büsselmann, Maren Rastedt, Tomas Klicpera, Karsten Reinwald, Henrike Schmies, Alexander Dyck and Peter Wagner
Energies 2020, 13(3), 567; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13030567 - 24 Jan 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3184
Abstract
Despite the great advantages of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells over the low-temperature (LT) PEM alternative, such as enhanced reaction kinetics and higher tolerance against impurities like CO due to the higher operation temperature, the achievement of high lifetimes still remains [...] Read more.
Despite the great advantages of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells over the low-temperature (LT) PEM alternative, such as enhanced reaction kinetics and higher tolerance against impurities like CO due to the higher operation temperature, the achievement of high lifetimes still remains a challenge. In order to improve the durability of the fuel cell, extensive research has been carried out on alternatives for the individual components. For this reason, this paper conducted extended long-term tests with three three membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) from one manufacturer under different operational scenarios. The MEAs differed mainly by the membranes used and showed significantly different behaviors. While the first MEA reached the end of life already after 2600 h, the second one could pass 9800 h almost without any problems. The third MEA proved resistant to adverse conditions. For all three MEAs, extensive electrochemical characterizations and μ-CT examinations for the analysis of long-term stability are shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells)
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14 pages, 1733 KiB  
Article
Durability of Alternative Metal Oxide Supports for Application at a Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Cathode—Comparison of Antimony- and Niobium-Doped Tin Oxide
by Laetitia Dubau, Frédéric Maillard, Marian Chatenet, Sara Cavaliere, Ignacio Jiménez-Morales, Annette Mosdale and Renaut Mosdale
Energies 2020, 13(2), 403; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13020403 - 14 Jan 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3031
Abstract
In this study, the resistance to corrosion of niobium-doped tin dioxide (Nb-doped SnO2, NTO) and antimony-doped tin oxide (Sb-doped SnO2, ATO) supports has been probed for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) application. To achieve this goal, ATO or NTO [...] Read more.
In this study, the resistance to corrosion of niobium-doped tin dioxide (Nb-doped SnO2, NTO) and antimony-doped tin oxide (Sb-doped SnO2, ATO) supports has been probed for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) application. To achieve this goal, ATO or NTO supports with loose-tube (fiber-in-tube) morphology were synthesized using electrospinning and decorated with platinum (Pt) nanoparticles. These cathode catalysts were submitted to two different electrochemical tests, an accelerated stress test following the EU Harmonised Test Protocols for PEMFC in a single cell configuration and an 850 h test in real air-breathing PEMFC systems. In both cases, the dissolution of the doping element was measured either by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) performed on the exhaust water or by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (X-EDS) analysis on ultramicrotomed membrane electrode assembly (MEA), and correlated to the performance losses upon ageing. It appears that the NTO-based support leads to lower performances than the ATO-based one, mainly owing to the low electronic conductivity of NTO. However, in the case of ATO, dissolution of the Sb doping element is non-negligible and represents a major issue from a stability point-of-view. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells)
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12 pages, 8642 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Corrosion Methods for Bipolar Plates for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Application
by Nadine Pilinski, Claudia Käding, Anastasia Dushina, Thorsten Hickmann, Alexander Dyck and Peter Wagner
Energies 2020, 13(1), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13010235 - 03 Jan 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3422
Abstract
In this work, different methods and electrochemical set-ups were investigated in order to study the corrosion behaviour of bipolar plates (BPP) for high temperature (HT) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell application. Using confocal and scanning electron microscopy, it was shown that chemical and [...] Read more.
In this work, different methods and electrochemical set-ups were investigated in order to study the corrosion behaviour of bipolar plates (BPP) for high temperature (HT) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell application. Using confocal and scanning electron microscopy, it was shown that chemical and electrochemical aging significantly increases surface roughness as well as morphology changes, confirming material degradation. Identical electrochemical corrosion behaviour was observed for both set-ups with typical quinone/hydroquinone peaks in the potential range ~0.6–0.7 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The appearance of the peaks and an increase of double layer capacitance can be related to the oxidation of carbon surface and, consequently, material corrosion. Simultaneously, an optimised corrosion set-up was introduced and verified regarding suitability. Both investigated set-ups and methods are useful to analyse the oxidation behaviour and corrosion resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploration of Electrochemical Processes in Fuel Cells)
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