Paradigm-shifting catalyst layer design for high performance and low cost polymer electrolyte fuel cells

聚合物电解质燃料电池（PEFC）处于技术解决方案的最前沿，旨在应对开发高效，具有成本竞争力的能源转换系统的全球挑战，同时具有低环境足迹。PEFC在其“催化剂层”（CL）中以高效率将氢的化学能清洁地转化为电能，同时仅产生纯水和热量作为副产品。PEFC技术将占全球燃料电池市场的近25%，预计到2022年将超过400亿美元。我们的行业合作伙伴，伯纳比的Ballard Power Systems，在PEFC技术方面排名全球第一，因此有望在未来获得巨大的经济效益。为了保持竞争力和增加市场份额，巴拉德的PEFC系统的成本必须降低，其性能必须提高。这些问题的出现部分是因为目前的PEFC CL是使用油墨制成的，其中负载昂贵的铂（Pt）纳米颗粒的碳粉颗粒与无序的聚合物粘合剂随机混合。这导致在干燥的油墨或CL中使用不良的Pt（增加成本）或难以进入的孔（导致性能差）。

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are at the forefront of technological solutions that are aimed at meeting the global challenge of developing highly efficient, cost competitive energy conversion systems that also have a low environmental footprint. PEFCs cleanly convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to electricity at high efficiency in their 'catalyst layers" (CLs), while generating only purewater and heat as by-products. PEFC technology will constitute nearly 25% of the global fuel cell market, projected to exceed $40B by 2022. Our industry partner, Ballard Power Systems in Burnaby, ranked #1 globally in PEFC technology, is thus poised to reap tremendous economic benefits in the future. To remain competitive and increase their market share, the cost of Ballard's PEFC system must be reduced and its performance enhanced. These issues arise partly because current PEFC CLs are made using an ink in which carbon powder particles that support expensive platinum (Pt) nanoparticles are mixed randomly with a disordered polymer binder. This results in poorly used Pt (adding to cost) or poorly accessible pores (resulting in poor performance) in the dried ink or CL.