GOALI- Fuel Cell Performance and Tolerance in Dead-Ended Anode Operation

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

0932509 Stefanopoulou Project Summary The objective of this project is to develop an understanding of the coupled electric, poroelastic, and transport behavior under extreme spatial and temporal variations such as the ones encountered in dead-ended-anode operation of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC). In-situ measurements with neutron imaging of the liquid water accumulation in the fuel cell and mass spectroscopy measurements of the gas concentration in several locations along the fuel cell channels will be used in combination with ex-situ postmortem micro-structural evaluation of the catalyst and the membrane degradation. The measurements will be used through our international collaboration to calibrate and validate a computational physical model for the prediction of the spatio-temporal patterns and their impact on degradation and catastrophic FC failures. The model will be used and extended through our industrial collaboration to predict the non-equilibrium conditions during FC start-up and shut-down which are critical for automotive stack life under flow-through and recirculated anode operation. Intellectual merits: The anticipated intellectual merits of this project include the investigation of spatiotemporal varying patterns of two-phase water, inert nitrogen and reactants in FC operation. The transport and accumulation of water and nitrogen from the cathode to the anode through the membrane in a FC operation under dead-ended mode provides controllable and statistically significant patterns which will be used for the modeling and assessment of the catalyst and membrane degradation mechanisms in a FC plate-to-plate operation. Several fundamental issues such as the tolerance of carbon-supported catalysts to non-equilibrium electrochemical potential, the liquid-to-liquid transport mechanisms of polymer electrolyte membranes, and the effects of gravity in the observed FC channel distributions will be addressed via the combination of the proposed experimental and modeling tasks. Broader impacts: The anticipated broader impacts of this project include the training of two undergraduate students from under-represented minorities and a PhD student. The international and industrial collaborations will embed the students in a very dynamic and stimulating environment that will nurture their leadership and scholarship. The developed methodologies will be integrated in a graduate course on "Control of advanced power systems" which is regularly taught by the PI to on-campus and distance-learning students from industry. The research results will be disseminated through webinars, lectures, mini-courses and presentations in US and EU workshops associated to renewable energy utilization. Last but not least, the PI and her students will organize educational visits to high schools in urban Detroit with demonstration kits of controlled electrochemical systems such as fuel cells and batteries. Our objective is to expose diverse students to the highly interdisciplinary area of FC systems and advanced measuring techniques. The proposed research combines computational techniques, experimental methodologies, and industrial participation for the improvement of fuel cell systems which are important for global sustainable energy.