Development of binder-free electrodes for novel proton batteries

氢气正迅速成为低碳经济的关键要素，到2050年可能满足全球24%的能源需求。燃料电池和电解器是实现绿色氢气的关键技术，它们的商业化生产正在加速。制造商的首要任务是确保大批量生产过程中催化剂涂层膜(CCM)的质量，因为单个组件的故障是一个关键的安全问题。CCM的结构很复杂，每叠几平方米的CCM需要具有亚微米级的催化和离子导电功能材料。该项目将开发快速、高精度的电极表征技术，适用于工业中的先进质量检测工具。该提议的核心是开发一种完全仪表化的电化学测试单元，该单元将集成几种操作数表征技术，如电流映射、循环伏安、阻抗光谱、光学和红外成像、拉曼光谱和在线气体分析，以实现电极的快速表征以进行质量控制，并加深对电极中发生的退化机理的了解。该项目将解决在高通量环境下将分析数据与电池性能相关联的科学挑战，以生产一种非常新颖、强大的分析工具，从而提高设备性能的可靠性，并减少制造过程中的浪费。

Hydrogen is rapidly gaining traction as a key element of a low carbon economy, potentially meeting 24% of world energy needs by 2050. Fuel cells and electrolysers are key enabling technologies for green hydrogen, and their commercial production is accelerating. A major priority for manufacturers is ensuring the quality of catalyst coated membranes (CCMs) during mass manufacture as failure of a single component is a critical safety issue. The structure of a CCM is complex, with thin layers of catalytic and ion-conducting functional materials requiring sub-micron scale tolerance across several m2 of CCM per stack.This project will develop rapid, high accuracy electrode characterisation techniques suitable for advanced quality inspection tools in industry. Central to the proposal is the development of a fully instrumented electrochemical test cell, which will integrate several operando characterisation techniques, such as current mapping, cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy, optical and infrared imaging, Raman spectroscopy and online gas analysis, to allow both rapid characterisation of electrodes for quality control and a deeper understanding of degradation mechanisms occurring in electrodes. The project will address the scientific challenges of correlating analytical data with cell performance in a high throughput setting to produce a highly novel, powerful analytical tool that will lead to increased reliability of device performance and reduced waste during manufacture.