Unraveling the Mechanisms of Facile Oxygen Reduction Reaction Promoted by Molten Carbonates: Implications for Low Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

摘要：对清洁和可持续能源的需求日益增长，这促使全球迫切需要新的技术来生产和使用能源。高效、低排放、燃料灵活的固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）是一种很有前途的发电技术。然而，为了使固体氧化物燃料电池成为商业产品，必须使它们的操作更经济，并且必须将可靠性提高到能够与现有内燃机技术竞争的水平。实现该目标的主要技术方法之一是通过大幅改善电极（特别是用于氧还原的阴极）的电化学性能来将操作温度窗口从当前的700- 1000 ℃降低到500- 700 ℃或更低。增加活性阴极的表面积是提高阴极性能的常用研究策略，但通常以制造成本高和稳定性差为代价，其他改善催化性能的方法正在研究中。南卡罗来纳州大学的Kevin Huang教授最近证明，熔融碳酸盐（MC）可以显着提高氧还原反应（ORR）的速率。此外，这种非常规的催化剂似乎是简单地用一步制造制备。美国国家科学基金会催化&生物催化计划正在奖励黄教授的项目，该项目旨在从基础科学的角度理解在650 ℃下操作的SOFC阴极中MC促进的ORR动力学的电荷转移机制。通过使用熔融碳酸盐来增强ORR动力学的创新方法可能会改变理解ORR机制和开发新的催化阴极材料的传统智慧，为SOFC走向商业化提供了使能技术。这对美国的能源战略具有重大的潜力。PI计划开展几项教育和推广活动，以提高对SOFC和能源状况的理解，以及这项研究工作的影响。包括少数民族和代表性不足的群体在内的本科生将通过明确的、有重点的研究项目在这项研究中发挥积极作用。2015年春季将为研究生开设一门新课程《固态电化学》。将通过南卡罗来纳州大学的年度“科学咖啡馆”方案向公众宣传能源研究领域正在取得的科学进展的重要性和潜在影响。2014年夏天，将在南卡罗来纳州大学与历史上的黑人学院本尼迪克特学院联合举办暑期讲习班，以促进能源领域的教育和劳动力发展。

ABSTRACT#1264706Kevin HuangThe growing need for clean and sustainable energy has stimulated a global imperative that demands new technologies for the way we produce and use energy. The high-efficiency, low-emission and fuel-flexible solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising power generation technology to meet that demand. For solid oxide fuel cells to become a commercial product, however, they must be made more economical to operate and reliability must be improved to a level capable of competing with the existing internal combustion engine technology. One of the leading technical approaches toward that goal is to lower the operating temperature window from the current 700-1000C to 500-700C or lower by drastically improving the electrochemical performances of the electrodes, particularly the cathode for oxygen reduction. Increasing the surface area of the active cathode has been common research strategy for boosting cathode performance, but often with the expense of high fabrication cost and poor stability.Other means to improve catalytic performance are under investigation. Professor Kevin Huang of the University of South Carolina recently demonstrated that molten carbonates (MCs) can significantly boost the rate of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Further, this unconventional catalyst appears to be simply prepared with single-step fabrication. The National Science Foundation Catalysis & Biocatalysis Program is making an award to fund Prof. Huang's project which is aimed at understanding from a fundamental science perspective the mechanisms of charge-transfer governing the MC-promoted ORR kinetics in SOFC cathodes operated at 650C.The innovative approach to enhance ORR kinetics through the use of molten carbonates may transform the conventional wisdom in understanding ORR mechanisms and in developing new catalytic cathode materials, thus providing the enabling technology for SOFCs to move toward commercialization. This has significant potential for an energy strategy for the US.The PI plans several educational and outreach activities to enhance the understanding of SOFCs and the energy picture, and of the impact of this research work. Undergraduate students including minority and underrepresented groups will play an active role in this research through clearly identified, focused research projects. A new course °Solid State Electrochemistry¡± will be developed for the graduate students in the spring of 2015. The importance and potential impact of ongoing scientific advances in the area of energy research will be disseminated to the general public via an annual "Science Cafe" program at the University of South Carolina. A joint summer workshop with Benedict College, a historically black college, will be held in the summer of 2014 at the University of South Carolina to promote education and workforce development in the energy realm.