Strategies to obtain stable, active and operforming non-PGM catalysts for the reduction of oxygen in H2/Air PEM fuel cells

由于其零排放和高效率，质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）已经赢得了巨大的商业和政府的兴趣，在全球范围内，作为非常有前途的可再生能源动力来源的便携式，汽车和固定的应用。然而，它们的广泛商业化受到其高成本和稳定性不足的极大阻碍。稀有和昂贵的Pt基电催化剂被认为是关键因素之一，因为它占PEMFC堆成本的50%以上。因此，开发廉价、高活性和稳定的非铂族金属（非PGM）催化剂至关重要。 该项目的主要目标是利用纳米技术开发可扩展的，廉价的，地球丰富的和地球友好的铁（Fe）基非PGM催化剂。该项目旨在通过创新和可行的策略，显着提高其稳定性，进一步提高其高活性（我们目前催化剂的活性已与Pt相当）。该项目涉及来自六个研究方的强大合作团队以及包括世界领先的燃料电池行业Ballard在内的两个行业支持者，从各个角度实现上述目标。它的特点是纳米材料合成，各种先进的表征，理论建模，燃料电池性能评估和放大的显着组合，导致协同努力，以揭示催化活性和性能衰减机制，最终促进PEMFC的广泛商业化。 该项目的预期成果对我们的行业合作伙伴具有重要意义，对我们的经济、能源、环境和社会也具有最重要的意义，因为它将有助于使PEMFC在经济上与当今的热动力源竞争，并可能彻底改变运输和固定电源市场。参与该项目的HQP将获得有价值的全面培训，并将在加拿大的工业和学术部门的高需求。

Due to their zero-emission and high efficiency, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have earned substantial commercial and government interest worldwide, as highly promising renewable energy power sources for portable, automobile and stationary applications. However, their widespread commercialization is greatly hindered by their high cost and insufficient stability. The rare and expensive Pt-based electrocatalysts are identified to be one of the key factors, since it contributes to over 50% of PEMFC stack cost. Therefore, the development of inexpensive, highly active and stable non-Platinum-Group-Metal (non-PGM) catalysts is of paramount importance. The main objective of this project is to employ nanotechnology to develop scalable, inexpensive, earth-abundant and earth-friendly iron (Fe)-based non-PGM catalysts. This project aims to significantly improve its stability, with further improving its high activity (the activity of our current catalyst is already comparable to Pt), via innovative and feasible strategies. This project involves a strong collaborative team from six research parties as well as two industry supporters including the world-leading fuel cell industry Ballard, to approach the above goals from all angles. It features a notable mix of nanomaterials synthesis, various advanced characterization, theoretical modelling, fuel cell performance evaluation and scaling up, leading to a synergetic effort to reveal the catalytic activity and performance decay mechanism, finally to promote the wide-spread commercialization of PEMFCs. The expected outcomes of the project is of great significance to our industry partners, and is also of the highest importance to our economy, energy, environment and society, as it will help to make PEMFCs economically competitive with today's thermal power sources, and may also revolutionize the transportation and stationary power source market. The HQP involved in this project will gain valuable and comprehensive training, and will be in high demand both in the industrial and academic sectors in Canada.