GOALI: Roll-to-roll Solvent-free Fabrication of Asymmetric Porous Membrane for Low-cost High-efficiency Fuel Cell Humidification

这笔GOALI学术联系机会(GOALI)拨款用于研究无溶剂制造方法中不对称膜的形成机理和这种膜中的水传输现象，以便为燃料电池汽车应用开发低成本、高效率的加湿系统的制造工艺。非对称膜将使用非平衡气体饱和和解吸的卷对卷发泡过程来制造。为了指导膜结构的设计，将建立一个基于物理的多孔介质中水蒸气传输的多尺度动力学模型。气泡生长模型将与实验研究相结合，以确定最佳工艺条件。实验将在实验室规模的发泡设备上进行，该设备将被设计和制造。制造的膜将在燃料电池汽车的原型加湿器中进行表征和评估。这项研究将在大学和行业研究团队的密切合作下进行。大学团队将专注于建模和流程开发，行业合作伙伴(福特)将专注于系统设计和集成。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致一种适用于燃料电池加湿应用的不对称膜的新制造工艺。它们还将有助于加深对多孔介质中水蒸气传输现象的理解。这项工作开发的技术将可转移到汽车行业，并有助于降低燃料电池汽车的成本，提高国内制造商的竞争力。开发的制造工艺还可以用于制造用于许多其他应用的膜，如水净化和气体分离。此外，这项研究将为本科生和研究生提供一个独特的机会，在与行业合作的环境中获得实验和分析培训。

This Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) grant provides funding to investigate the formation mechanism of asymmetric membranes in a solvent-free fabrication approach and the water transport phenomena in such membranes, in order to develop a manufacturing process for low-cost, high-efficiency humidification systems for fuel cell vehicle applications. The asymmetric membranes will be fabricated using a roll-to-roll foaming process with non-equilibrium gas saturation and desorption. A physics-based multi-scale dynamic model for water vapor transport in porous media will be developed to guide the design of the membrane structure. A bubble growth model will be employed together with experimental studies to identify the optimal process conditions. The experiments will be conducted on a lab scale foaming apparatus that will be designed and built. The fabricated membranes will be characterized and evaluated in prototype humidifiers sized for fuel cell vehicles. This research will be conducted with close collaboration between university and industry research teams. The university team will focus on modeling and process development and the industry partner (Ford) will focus on system design and integration. If successful, the results of this research will lead to a novel manufacturing process for asymmetric membranes that are suitable for fuel cell humidification applications. They will also lead to enhanced understanding of water vapor transport phenomena in porous media. The technology developed in this work will be transferrable to the automotive industry and contribute to reducing the cost of fuel cell vehicles and improving the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers. The developed manufacturing process can also be used to fabricate membranes for many other applications, such as water purification and gas separation. In addition, this research will provide a unique opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to obtain experimental and analytical training in a collaborative environment with industry.