Overview
ARTEMIS is a collaborative project whose aim is to develop new high temperature PEMFC MEAs for operation up to at least 130 °C, and preferably 150 to 180 °C, and their validation in a stack for automotive application as a range extender.
There is increasing industrial interest in developing HT-PEMFC systems in conjunction with Diesel or methanol-reformer to continuously charge batteries onboard of automotive vehicles, thus extending the range to several hundred kilometers, using the existing infrastructure for hydrocarbon fuels. HT-PEMFC systems are being developed commercially for backup-systems in remote areas or developing countries where a long operation time is required when the grid fails. Hydrogen supply for those applications is, in the present infrastructure scenario, rather difficult and expensive, leading to the combination of reformers with HT-PEMFC as an attractive option.
High temperature fuel cells offer advantages for the overall system. HT-PEM fuel cells require less balance of plant components and thus have reduced ancillary loads, and they offer high tolerance to CO and other pollutants, meaning that either lower quality hydrogen can be used on an onboard reformer integrated to use readily available hydrocarbon fuels (gasoline or diesel in the case of range extender to an ICE, or others, bioethanol for example in the case of a range extender to a battery).
The purpose of ARTEMIS is to develop and optimise alternative materials for a new generation of European MEAs which could be integrated into a 3 kWe high temperature PEMFC stack, while reducing cost and increasing durability. The MEAs will be based on new and alternative polybenzimidazole type membranes and improved catalytic layers providing low catalyst loading and high efficiency at high temperature as well as a high tolerance to pollutants. The MEAs should offer long and stable properties under various conditions of operation relevant to the range extender application.
Funding
Results
Final Report Summary - ARTEMIS (Automotive pemfc Range extender with high TEMperature Improved meas and Stacks)
A novel cross-linked polybenzimidazole membrane reinforced by an electrospun cross-linked nanofibre web has been developed and its preparation scaled-up. The membrane has proton conductivity of 130 mS/cm, an acid doping level of 21 molecules per polymer repeat unit, and...
Executive Summary:
A novel cross-linked polybenzimidazole membrane reinforced by an electrospun cross-linked nanofibre web has been developed and its preparation scaled-up. The membrane has proton conductivity of 130 mS/cm, an acid doping level of 21 molecules per polymer repeat unit, and Young's Modulus of 80 MPa. Membranes of surface area 400 cm2 have been produced batch-wise and transferred to WP4 for development of full size MEAs for the HT PEMFC stack.
A multi-scale modelling tool has been developed to investigate how degradation effects during FC operation may be mitigated. The proposed confinement strategy could lead to the use of membranes with increased acid doping levels.
Non-noble metal CoS2/C, NiS2/C, CoSe2/C and NiSe2/C cathode electrocatalysts were developed. CoS2 with cubic structure has the best activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction in an acidic electrolyte. A PtNi/MWCNT cathode catalyst was prepared and scaled-up. A polyol synthesis route to Pt/WC-C-CeO2 anode catalyst was developed and scaled-up. Anode and cathode catalysts were transferred to WP4 for electrode preparation.
Ink composition and deposition were optimised using a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The resulting electrodes were used with the ARTEMIS cross-linked and reinforced membrane to produce initially small size (25 cm2) and finally full size (200 cm2) ARTEMIS MEAs, by optimising the assembly parameters and sub-gaskets.
MEA performance exceeds the target of 0.5 W/cm² at 1 A/cm² in 25 cm² single cell tests and is significantly higher than that of the reference commercial MEA (25 % higher at 1.2 A/cm²). Such MEAs have been operated using the ARTEMIS range extender protocol in 1000 hour and 2000 hour longevity tests. The voltage decay is low (8 µV/h), and after 1000 h operation the power density delivered at full load is still close to 0.75 W/cm². Full size MEAs have been transferred to WP5 for short stack development.
Two cell plate formulations were processed and tested for performance. Mechanical tests were performed to confirm mechanical properties of this material. Seal material was chosen and the required seal thickness calculated. The hardware components design was completed.
Following preliminary performance tests on single cells to optimise the HT-PEMFC stack assembly, a four-cell high temperature PEMFC stack was assembled and tested. This stack produces >0.3 kWe at 160 °C at ambient pressure and without humidification for currents over 165 A (825 mA/cm2) and at 180 °C for currents over 140 A (700 mA/cm2). A 3 kW HT-PEMFC stack was configured using the results from this four-cell stack. It was determined that 48 cells of average performance are required to produce 3 kWe at 160 °C in the range of 125-160 A (BoL to EoL) and at 180 °C in the range of 110 A (BoL) to 140 A (EoL). Based on 15% voltage decay as end-of-life condition this configuration allows for the output of 3 kWe from BoL to EoL in a suitable current range.
Vehicle models were developed to assess the effects of an HT-PEMFC stack on the vehicle range through the simulation of different driving cycles. For a 3 kW stack, two solutions were analysed: (i) On-board generation for light commercial vehicles, where the fuel cell is used to supply power to the auxiliaries, where the vehicle runtime was shown to be improved by 11% for the NEDC, and by 19% for the ASTERICS driving cycle, with respect to the full electric vehicle; (ii) Charge-sustaining suitable for passenger cars, where the fuel cell is used to supply power for traction, where it was shown that a 3 kW fuel cell can ensure battery charging in the cases of Urban Driving Cycles and Common Artemis Driving Cycles.
A dissemination event was held, and 6 journal papers have been published or are planned.
Overall improved high temperature PEMFC MEA components and MEAs have been developed, leading to ARTEMIS HT-PEMFC technology for future research and development, and the approach of a HT PEMFC stack as a range extender has been validated.
Project Context and Objectives:
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Project Results:
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Potential Impact:
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List of Websites:
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