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

质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)具有零排放、高效率等优点，是一种极具发展前景的可再生能源，广泛应用于便携式、汽车和固定设备等领域，受到了世界各国政府和商界的广泛关注。然而，其成本高、稳定性不够，极大地阻碍了它们的广泛商业化。稀有和昂贵的铂基电催化剂被认为是关键因素之一，因为它占PEMFC电池组成本的50%以上。因此，开发廉价、高效、稳定的非铂族金属(Non-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、廉价、富含地球和对地球友好的铁(Fe)基非PGM催化剂。该项目旨在通过创新和可行的策略，显著提高其稳定性，并进一步提高其高活性(我们目前催化剂的活性已经可以与铂相媲美)。该项目包括来自六个研究各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，从各个角度接近上述目标。它以纳米材料的合成、各种先进的表征、理论建模、燃料电池性能评估和放大为特征，导致了揭示催化活性和性能衰退机理的协同努力，最终促进了PEMFC的广泛商业化。 该项目的预期结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高的重要性，因为它将有助于使PEMFC在经济上与当今的火力源竞争，并可能给交通和固定电源市场带来革命性的变化。参与该项目的HQP将获得宝贵和全面的培训，并将在加拿大的工业和学术部门需求很大。

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.