Miniatuarised Fuel Cells from Biomass

生物质将在水热过程中转化为具有设计粒度和孔隙率的碳材料。合成后的碳质材料将被压制或打印成独立的圆盘。其中一个HTC圆盘将加载Fe和N前体，并进一步碳化以产生Fe-N位并成为导电性。这将作为燃料电池的阴极GDL而严重，并将使用旋转盘组对其ORR能力进行电化学评估。它还将在气体扩散电极配置中进行测试。另一个HTC圆盘将浸渍PtCl2溶液并碳化，以产生负载在导电碳上的铂纳米颗粒。将对其使用气体扩散电极氧化甲醇的能力进行电化学测试。然后，我们将在伦敦大学学院将铂/碳和铁-氮-碳盘组装成真正的燃料电池配置，中间是Nafion，并使用极化曲线和电化学阻抗谱来评估它们的性能。因此，我们将开发用于远程应用的微型燃料电池，即为偏远地区的医疗设备供电。

Biomass will be converted into carbon materials with designed particle size and porosity during a hydrothermal process. After synthesis the resulting carbonaceous materials will be pressed or printed into freestanding disks. One of the HTC disk will be then loaded with Fe and N precursor and further carbonised to yield Fe-N sites and become conductive. This will severe as the cathode-GDL of a fuel cell and will be electrochemically evaluated for its ORR ability using a rotating disk set. It will also be tested in a gas diffusion electrode configuration. Another HTC disk will be impregnated with a PtCl2 solution and carbonised to yield Pt nanoparticles supported on conductive carbon. It will be electrochemically tested for its ability to oxidise methanol using a gas diffusion electrode. The Pt/C and Fe-N-C disks will then be assembled at UCL in a real fuel cell configuration with Nafion in the middle and their performance evaluated using polarisation curves and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy.We will thus develop miniaturised fuel cells for remote applications, i.e. powering a medical device in remote areas.