(Invited) The FC-PAD Consortium: Advancing Fuel Cell Performance and Durability

Abstract

The Fuel Cell Performance and Durability (FC-PAD) consortium was formed to advance performance and durability of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) at a pre-competitive level in order to further enable their commercialization. This consortium coordinates national laboratory activities related to fuel-cell performance and durability, provides technical expertise, and harmonizes activities with industrial developers. The consortium serves as a resource that amplifies DOE EERE’s impact by leveraging the core capabilities of several labs in conducting low technology-readiness-level research. Consortium members include Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.This consortium incorporates national laboratory investigators with proven experience (developed in prior projects) related to durability, transport, and performance, and combines them into one highly coordinated effort. The consortium is divided into six thrusts: three thrust areas related to components ((1) Electrocatalysts and Supports, (2) Electrode Layers, (3) Ionomers, Gas Diffusion Layers, Bipolar Plates, Interfaces), and three cross-cutting thrust areas ((4) Modeling and Validation, (5) Operando Evaluation: Benchmarking, ASTs, and Contaminants and (6) Component Characterization and Diagnostics.) In addition, four external-lab FC-PAD projects are led by 3M Company, General Motors, United Technologies Research Center, and Vanderbilt University. The core national lab team supports those four projects utilizing national lab capabilities. The major challenge addressed by this consortium is to develop the knowledge base, design rules, and understanding of underlying phenomena in order to mitigate durability concerns and optimize performance through understanding the science of integration, while simultaneously reducing cost. Current research focuses on achieving high performance and durability in low Pt-loaded PEFCs. FC-PAD has conducted significant analysis of MEA electrode structures, analyzed the structures to understand the performance and durability losses, comprehensively defined the current commercial material baseline materials, and used this information to developed new electrode architectures that are designed to minimize existing electrode layer losses. In this talk, in addition to discussion of the consortium itself, recent results will be highlighted including analysis of electrode layers from inks to structure to conditioning to performance. AcknowledgmentsWe want to acknowledge all of the FC-PAD researchers, particularly the Research Thrust Coordinators: Deborah Myers (ANL), K.C. Neyerlin (NREL), Ahmet Kusoglu (LBNL), Rajesh Ahluwalia (ANL), Rangachary Mukundan (LANL), Karren More (ORNL). This work is funded through the DOE FC-PAD Consortium with thanks to DOE EERE FCTO.