SGER: Improved Air Cathodes

本项目的目标是设计、论证和评估一种新型的碱性燃料电池(AFC)。燃料电池有几种类型。以H2/O2为燃料的最流行的燃料有：被广泛研究的质子交换膜作为电解液(PEMFC)；使用碱性电解液的碱性燃料电池(AFC)；使用固体氧化物作为电解液并在非常高的温度(100oC)下工作的固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)；在高温(100oC)下工作的磷酸电解质燃料电池，存在催化剂不稳定的问题；以及熔融碳酸盐电解质燃料电池，它在非常高的温度(100oC)下工作，存在材料稳定性问题。最有希望在较低温度下运行的候选是PEMFC和AFC。在公开文献中，没有人在不更换电解液的情况下成功地证明了AFC稳定的氢气-空气运行(每1000小时运行一次)。选择AFCs解决了催化剂昂贵的问题。因此，为了提高AFC在使用“脏”燃料(如重整甲醇)时的性能，解决方案是设计新的电极，允许AFC使用“脏”燃料运行，并优化碱性电解液浓度，以产生最佳的运行输出-通过使用在常温(25℃和常压)下运行的“脏”燃料长时间高效率，并使用负担得起的材料作为催化金属(不是高价金属)。本项目将设计长时间、高效率地使用“脏”燃料运行的AFC电极。使用一项来自对螯合物的研究的新技术和来自Allis-Chalmers和埃克森美孚早期工作的较旧但不太为人所知的技术的组合。

The goal of this project is to design, demonstrate and evaluate a new kind of alkaline fuel cell (AFC). There are several types of fuel cells. Among the most popular operating on H2/O2 as fuels are: the widely researched Proton Exchange Membrane as an electrolyte (PEMFC); the alkaline fuel cell (AFC) that uses an alkaline electrolyte; the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that uses solid oxides as electrolytes and operates at very high temperatures (100 oC); the phosphoric acid electrolyte fuel cell that operates at high temperature (100 oC) and has the problem of catalyst instability; and the molten carbonate electrolyte fuel cell that operates at very high temperature (100 oC) and presents a problem of material stability. The most promising candidates to operate at lower temperatures are PEMFCs and AFCs.No one has demonstrated in the open literature successful stable hydrogen-air operation of an AFC without replacement of electrolyte (every 1000 hours of operation). The choice of AFCs solves the problem of expensive catalysts. Therefore, to improve the performances of AFCs when using "dirty" fuel (such as reformed methanol), the solution is to design new electrodes that allow the AFC to run with "dirty" fuel and to optimize the alkaline electrolyte concentration such that will yield optimal operation outputs-high efficiency for long time by using "dirty" fuel operating at ambient conditions (25 oC and atmospheric pressure), and with affordable materials as catalytic metals (not highly priced metals).This project will design AFC electrodes that operate with "dirty" fuel for long periods and at high levels of efficiency, using a combination of new technology derived from a study of chelates and of older but less-known technology derived from earlier work at Allis-Chalmers and Exxon.