Corrosion Mechanism and Control of Electrode Materials for Advanced Electrochemical System

技术和工业进程的进步大大提高了生产效率，改善了人类社会的生活质量。然而，作为我们主要能源的化石燃料的持续消耗导致二氧化碳的排放达到创纪录的水平，二氧化碳是臭名昭著的温室气体（GHG）的主要部分，对我们的环境造成了不利影响。为了应对温室气体对全球气候的负面影响，例如全球变暖，已加紧寻找可再生和清洁能源，例如太阳能、风能和水力发电以及相关技术。太阳能因其易于获取而不受地理位置的限制而受到欢迎，近年来太阳能利用技术引起了全世界的研究兴趣。染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）是一种先进的能源系统，它通过可见光照射到光敏材料上产生电能，并结合电化学电池形成电路。DSSC虽然是第三代太阳能电池的突出代表之一，但尚未达到大规模应用的阶段。传统上，铂电极用于DSSC系统，但其高昂的价格使得该系统的扩大在经济上不可行。为了降低成本，还考虑了一些非贵重材料。其中两个主要问题是性能不稳定和电催化活性下降，都是由低成本阴极的腐蚀引起的。开发新的技术来改造这些材料以提高其功能以取代贵金属是一个很大的挑战。拟议的研究项目旨在应对这一挑战，并将重点放在选择候选材料，揭示其腐蚀机制，开发腐蚀控制策略和相关技术上，以更经济的方式实现与贵金属相当的有效性。

Advances in technology and industrial processes have greatly increased the production efficiencies and improved the quality of life in human society. However, the continuous consumption of fossil fuels as our main energy source is causing the record level emission of CO2 which is the major portion of the notorious greenhouse gases (GHG), resulting in the adverse impacts on our environment. In response to the negative effects of GHG on global climate, e.g., global warming, the search for renewable and clean energy sources, such as solar, wind and hydro power, and associated technologies has intensified. Solar power gains the popularity due to its easy availability not limited by geographical locations, and the technology for solar power utilization has drawn worldwide research interests in recent years. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is an advanced energy system that generates electricity via illumination of visible light onto photo sensitive material and forms electric circuit by incorporating an electrochemical cell. Although DSSC is one of the prominent third generation solar cells, it has not reached the stage of large scale applications. Traditionally, the electrode made of platinum is used in DSSC system, but their high prices make scaling-up of such system not economically feasible. To reduce the cost, some non-noble materials are considered. Two of the major problems are the performance instability and the degradation of electrocatalytic activities, all caused by the corrosion of low-cost cathode. It is a big challenge to develop new technique to transform these materials for functional improvements to replace the noble metals. The proposed research project aims to meet that challenge and will focus on selecting candidate materials, uncovering their corrosion mechanisms, developing corrosion control strategy and associated techniques to achieve the effectiveness equivalent to that of the noble metals in a more economic way. This project will also investigate how the electrocatalytic activity related factors such as crystal orientation, surface structure, etc., affect corrosion processes and kinetics. Surface reactivity and corrosion events will be in situ monitored. The feasibility of applying a protective/conductive coating on the cathode and the related physical/chemical compatibilities will be explored. The outputs of the research proposal will include a scalable DSSC system with a low cost cathode, the comprehensive knowledge of corrosion mechanisms that will fill the knowledge gap in this area, and the guidelines for corrosion control in similar systems in terms of materials selection, new electrode materials design and various surface modification techniques. This research project will contribute to achieving the ultimate goal of renewable and clean energy utilization, protecting our environment and enhancing Canadian competitiveness in the global market.