Fuel Cell Components Articles
-
Porous Titanium in Next-Generation Polymer-Electrolyte-Membrane Fuel Cells
Porous titanium has found a wide variety of unique and important applications including filtration, separation, catalyst supporting, gas absorbing, gas sparging, current collection, and medical implantation. Manufacture process for porous titanium Raw titanium powder preparation—Cold isostatic pressing or rolling—Sintering in high temperature & vacuum furnace-Machined to ...
-
SnO 2 -Nafion ® nanocomposite polymer electrolytes for fuel cell applications
Fuel cells are capable to exploit the combustion of hydrogen to convert chemical energy into electricity. Polymer electrolyte fuel cells based on Nafion membranes are able to work in a relatively low temperature range (70–90ºC) but require operating relative humidity (RH) close to 100%. To develop proton-exchange membranes with adequate performances at low RH, an attractive strategy ...
-
Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) Activation Procedures
Why is an activation procedure or break-in necessary for a membrane electrode assembly (MEA)? A large reason for performing an activation procedure or break-in is to properly humidify the membrane portion of the MEA that was dried out during the hot press stage of the membrane electrode assembly(MEA) production. MEAs will not work well when they are not fully humidified (see article: Why is ...
-
What is the Difference Between Carbon Paper and Carbon Cloth Based Gas Diffusion Layers (GDL)?
Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layers Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layers (GDL) (e.g. Sigracet, Freudenberg, Toray, etc) tend to be thinner and more brittle than Carbon Cloth Gas Diffusion Layers (e.g. ELAT™, GDL-CT). Each type has a different mass transport, porosity, hydrophobicity, and conductivity. Papers such as Toray are quite hard and brittle, with very little compressibility. These ...
-
What is the Purpose of a Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL)?
The Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) plays several critical roles in a typical fuel cell application and is often integrated as part of the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). Typical applications that use GDLs consist of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC). When a GDL is coated with a catalyst it is than referred to as a Gas Diffusion Electrode (GDE), which are ...
-
ELAT-1400 Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) Not “Discontinued”
After the original manufacturer of ELAT Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) stopped producing the material, many of the fuel cell industry had to scramble for replacements and were continuing their projects based on inventory already purchased. We were no exception. After a fair amount of searching and evaluation, we finally found a replacement that had very similar mechanical properties. So, for a ...
-
Why is Humidity / Moisture Control Important in a Fuel Cell?
The root of all of this is that Nafion membranes must stay hydrated to function properly. If they are not fully humidified the conductivity decreases and therefore more of the electricity is converted directly to heat before it leaves the membrane (I2R heating). If it gets too dry it basically stops functioning as a proton transporter. All of this sounds great since a Hydrogen Fuel Cell consumes ...
-
In-situ investigation of the cathode catalysts for PEM fuel cells using differential electrochemical mass spectrometry
Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) involves applying a potential across an electrochemical cell and measuring the resulting current while concurrently analyzing gas products with a mass spectrometer. We used DEMS to investigate the mechanism of carbon support corrosion (CSC) in-situ at the cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The cathode exhaust gases were ...
-
Conception and optimization of a membrane electrode assembly microbial fuel cell (MEA-MFC) for treatment of domestic wastewater
A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for microbial fuel cells (MEA-MFC) was developed for continuous electricity production while treating domestic wastewater concurrently. It was optimized via three upgraded versions (noted α, β and γ) in terms of design (current collectors, hydrophilic separator nature) and operating conditions (hydraulic retention time, external resistance, aeration rate, ...
-
Engineering models for fuel cell production management
Membrane electrode assemblies are the key components of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The future demand for this product could grow exponentially if key technical challenges are successfully addressed including low cost mass production and reliable customer order fulfilment. This study reports on a multidisciplinary team effort to formulate and apply engineering models for managing the ...
Need help finding the right suppliers? Try XPRT Sourcing. Let the XPRTs do the work for you