Computer-aided design of catalyst layers for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

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Polymer electrolyte fuel cell vehicles are anticipated to lower well-to-wheel energy consumption, and reduce emissions of green house gases and other air pollutants. The current generation of fuel cell vehicles have demonstrated all the performance attributes that customers expect, such as long range, fast re-fuelling and cold start. However, the fuel cells are still too costly to enable its successful commercialization. One of the major contributors to fuel cell costs is the platinum used inside the fuel cell electrodes. Experimental research has shown that functionally-graded and micro-structured electrodes present a great opportunity to reduce fuel cell platinum loading without negatively impacting performance. Fuel cell electrodes however are several micro-meters thick; therefore, mathematical models are required to understand the physical process occurring inside the electrode in order to improve their design. Most electrode mathematical models treat the electrode as a macro-homogeneous layer, thereby not appropriately accounting for local meso-scale mass transport losses in the electrodes. The proposed research will develop reconstruction and meshing algorithms, and mathematical models to more accurately study the meso-scale mass transport and electrochemical reactions occurring in heterogeneous and structurally engineered electrodes. Since these novel electrodes will need to be integrated with the other components in a fuel cell and such components affect the water, thermal and reactant balance of the electrode, numerical multi-scale methods that integrate meso-scale and macro-scale fuel cell models will also be studied. Meso-scale and multi-scale models will be used for computer-aided design of functionally-graded electrodes. These electrodes will be fabricated and tested to assess the validity of the analysis and design framework. AFCC will also use the proposed multi-scale mathematical models to develop novel hierarchically structured electrodes. The most successful electrodes will be integrated in their next generation fuel cell vehicles. The current project will also contribute to the training of six highly qualified personnel.