Search Results (2)

In order to help the introduction on the automotive market of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), it is mandatory to develop highly performing and stable catalysts. The main objective of this work is to investigate PtNi/C catalysts in a PEFC under low relative humidity and pressure conditions, more representative of automotive applications. Carbon supported PtNi nanoparticles were prepared by reduction of metal precursors with formic acid and successive thermal and leaching treatments. The effect of the chemical composition, structure and surface characteristics of the synthesized samples on their electrochemical behavior was investigated. The catalyst characterized by a larger Pt content (Pt₃Ni₂/C) presented the highest catalytic activity (lower potential losses in the activation region) among the synthesized bimetallic PtNi catalysts and the commercial Pt/C, used as the reference material, after testing at high temperature (95 °C) and low humidification (50%) conditions for automotive applications, showing a cell potential (ohmic drop-free) of 0.82 V at 500 mA·cm⁻². In order to assess the electro-catalysts stability, accelerated degradation tests were carried out by cycling the cell potential between 0.6 V and 1.2 V. By comparing the electrochemical and physico-chemical parameters at the beginning of life (BoL) and end of life (EoL), it was demonstrated that the Pt₁Ni₁/C catalyst was the most stable among the catalyst series, with only a 2% loss of voltage at 200 mA·cm⁻² and 12.5% at 950 mA·cm⁻². However, further improvements are needed to produce durable catalysts. Full article

In this paper, advanced equivalent circuit models (ECMs) were developed to model large format and high energy nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion 20 Ah battery cells. Different temperatures conditions, cell characterization test (Normal and Advanced Tests), ECM topologies (1st and 2nd Order Thévenin model), state of charge (SoC) estimation techniques (Coulomb counting and extended Kalman filtering) and validation profiles (dynamic discharge pulse test (DDPT) and world harmonized light vehicle profiles) have been incorporated in the analysis. A concise state-of-the-art of different lithium-ion battery models existing in the academia and industry is presented providing information about model classification and information about electrical models. Moreover, an overview of the different steps and information needed to be able to create an ECM model is provided. A comparison between begin of life (BoL) and aged (95%, 90% state of health) ECM parameters (internal resistance (R_o), polarization resistance (R_p), activation resistance (R_p2) and time constants (τ) is presented. By comparing the BoL to the aged parameters an overview of the behavior of the parameters is introduced and provides the appropriate platform for future research in electrical modeling of battery cells covering the ageing aspect. Based on the BoL parameters 1st and 2nd order models were developed for a range of temperatures (15 °C, 25 °C, 35 °C, 45 °C). The highest impact to the accuracy of the model (validation results) is the temperature condition that the model was developed. The 1st and 2nd order Thévenin models and the change from normal to advanced characterization datasets, while they affect the accuracy of the model they mostly help in dealing with high and low SoC linearity problems. The 2nd order Thévenin model with advanced characterization parameters and extended Kalman filtering SoC estimation technique is the most efficient and dynamically correct ECM model developed. Full article