STXM studies of novel fuel cell structures under various temperature and humidity conditions

氢基聚合物电解质膜燃料电池(PEM-FC)具有极大的潜力，可以显著减少固定和移动电源系统的碳排放。由福特和戴姆勒共同拥有的AFCC汽车燃料电池合作公司(简称AFCC)致力于生产经济、可靠、高性能的氢燃料电池，优化用于汽车应用。目前阻碍燃料电池更广泛使用的一个因素是它们的可靠性。软X射线光谱显微镜是一种基于光源的技术，在揭示燃料电池失效原因和提供可用于合理改进材料和工艺的信息方面具有巨大的潜力。该项目建立在NSERC支持的合作研发(CRD)项目的基础上，该项目将于2013年8月完成。具体地说，我们将使用当前CRD开发的用于原位X射线显微镜研究的先进环境单元，来研究与PEMFC在典型和不利操作条件下的性能相关的几个基本问题。预计这将改善燃料电池材料的设计方式，使其在寒冷的气候下保持坚固。 将燃料电池技术应用于交通运输被广泛认为是应对气候变化方面的重大进步。如果有强大的燃料电池技术可用--该项目将对此做出重大贡献--该技术可能会非常迅速地被采用，在这种情况下，将为加拿大带来巨大的经济效益，并使加拿大能够通过减少化石燃料消耗，为全球二氧化碳排放的减少做出重大贡献。

Hydrogen based, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM-FC) have great potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from systems used for both stationary and mobile power. The AFCC Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation Corp. (AFCC, for short), which is co-owned by Ford and Daimler, is dedicated to producing economic, reliable, high performance hydrogen fuel cells optimized for use in automotive applications. A factor currently impeding wider use of fuel cells is their reliability. Soft X-ray spectromicroscopy is a light-source based technique with tremendous potential to reveal causes of fuel cell failure and to provide information that can be used for rational improvement to materials and processes. This project builds on an NSERC-supported collaborative research and development (CRD) project which will finish in Aug. 2013. Specifically we will use an advanced environmental cell for in situ X-ray microscopy studies, which was developed in the current CRD, to examine several fundamental issues related to PEMFCs performance under both typically and adverse operating conditions. This is expected to improve how fuel cell materials are engineered to be robust in cold climates. Adoption of fuel cell technologies for transportation applications is widely recognized as a major advance with respect to climate change. If robust fuel cell technology was available - to which this project will significantly contribute - there could be a very rapid adoption of the technology in which case there would be enormous economic benefits to Canada, and also allow Canada to contribute significantly to a global reduction in CO2 emissions by reducing fossil fuel consumption.