Rod Borup is a Team Leader in the fuel cell program at Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He received his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1988 and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1993. He has worked on fuel cell technology since 1994, working in the areas of hydrogen production and PEM fuel cell stack components. He has been awarded 12 U.S. patents, authored over 40 papers related to fuel cell technology, and presented over 50 oral papers at national meetings. His current main research area is related to water transport in PEM fuel cells and PEM fuel cell durability. Recently, he was awarded the 2005 DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Award for the most significant R&D contribution of the year for his team's work in fuel cell durability and was the Principal Investigator for the 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar (San Antonio, TX, USA) Best Poster Award. Jeremy Meyers is an Assistant Professor of materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where his research focuses on the development of electrochemical energy systems and materials. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas, Jeremy workedmore » as manager of the advanced transportation technology group at UTC Power, where he was responsible for developing new system designs and components for automotive PEM fuel cell power plants. While at UTC Power, Jeremy led several customer development projects and a DOE-sponsored investigation into novel catalysts and membranes for PEM fuel cells. Jeremy has coauthored several papers on key mechanisms of fuel cell degradation and is a co-inventor of several patents. In 2006, Jeremy and several colleagues received the George Mead Medal, UTC's highest award for engineering achievement, and he served as the co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference on fuel cells. Jeremy received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Bryan Pivovar received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1994. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 2000 under the direction of Profs. Ed Cussler and Bill Smyrl, studying transport properties in fuel cell electrolytes. He continued working in the area of polymer electrolyte fuel cells at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a post-doc (2000-2001), as a technical staff member (2001-2005), and in his current position as a team leader (2005-present). In this time, Bryan's research has expanded to include further aspects of fuel cell operation, including electrodes, subfreezing effects, alternative polymers, hydroxide conductors, fuel cell interfaces, impurities, water transport, and high-temperature membranes. Bryan has served at various levels in national and international conferences and workshops, including organizing a DOE sponsored workshop on freezing effects in fuel cells and an ARO sponsored workshop on alkaline membrane fuel cells, and he was co-chair of the 2007 Gordon Research Conference on Fuel Cells. Minoru Inaba is a Professor at the Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Doshisha University, Japan. He received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, in 1984 and his M.Sc. in 1986 and his Dr. Eng. in 1995 from the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. He has worked on electrochemical energy conversion systems including fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries at Kyoto University (1992-2002) and at Doshisha University (2002-present). His primary research interest is the durability of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), in particular, membrane degradation, and he has been involved in NEDO R&D research projects on PEFC durability since 2001. He has authored over 140 technical papers and 30 review articles. Kenichiro Ota is a Professor of the Chemical Energy Laboratory at the Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan. He received his B.S.E. in Applied Chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1968 and his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1973. He has worked on hydrogen energy and fuel cells since 1974, working on materials science for fuel cells and water electrolysis. He has published more than 150 original papers, 70 review papers, and 50 scientific books. He is now the president of the Hydrogen Energy Systems Society of Japan, the chairman of the Fuel Cell Research Group of the Electrochemical Society of Japan, and the chairman of the National Committee for the Standardization of the Stationary Fuel Cells. ABSTRACT TRUNCATED« less

Scientific aspects of polymer electrolyte fuel cell durability and degradation.

Nano- and bulk-silicon-based insertion anodes for lithium-ion secondary cells

There are growing concerns over the environmental, climate, and health impacts caused by using non-renewable fossil fuels. The utilization of green energy, including solar and wind power, is believed to be one of the most promising alternatives to support more sustainable economic growth. In this regard, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can play a critically important role. To further increase the energy and power densities of LIBs, silicon anodes have been intensively explored due to their high capacity, low operation potential, environmental friendliness, and high abundance. The main challenges for the practical implementation of silicon anodes, however, are the huge volume variation during lithiation and delithiation processes and the unstable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) films. Recently, significant breakthroughs have been achieved utilizing advanced nanotechnologies in terms of increasing cycle life and enhancing charging rate performance due partially to the excellent mechanical properties of nanomaterials, high surface area, and fast lithium and electron transportation. Here, the most recent advance in the applications of 0D (nanoparticles), 1D (nanowires and nanotubes), and 2D (thin film) silicon nanomaterials in LIBs are summarized. The synthetic routes and electrochemical performance of these Si nanomaterials, and the underlying reaction mechanisms are systematically described.

Silicon-based Nanomaterials for Lithium-Ion Batteries - A Review

Equilibrium concentrations of dissolved platinum species from a Pt/C electrocatalyst sample in 0.5 M H2SO4 at 80°C were found to increase with applied potential from 0.9 to 1.1 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode. In addition, platinum surface area loss for a short-stack of proton exchange membrane fuel cells PEMFCs operated at open-circuit voltage 0.95 V was shown to be higher than another operated under load 0.75 V. Both findings suggest that the formation of soluble platinum species such as Pt 2+ plays an important role in platinum surface loss in PEMFC electrodes. As accelerated platinum surface area loss in the cathode from 63 to 23 m 2 /gPt in 100 h was observed upon potential cycling, a cycled membrane electrode assembly MEA cathode was examined in detail by incidence angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy TEM to reveal processes responsible for observed platinum loss. In this study, TEM data and analyses of Pt/C catalyst and cross-sectional MEA cathode samples unambiguously confirmed that coarsening of platinum particles occurred via two different processes: i Ostwald ripening on carbon at the nanometer scale, which is responsible for platinum particle coarsening from 3t o6 nm on carbon, and ii migration of soluble platinum species in the ionomer phase at the micrometer scale, chemical reduction of these species by crossover H2 molecules, and precipitation of platinum particles in the cathode ionomer phase, which reduces the weight of platinum on carbon. It was estimated that each process contributed to 50% of the overall platinum area loss of the potential cycled electrode.

Instability of Pt ∕ C Electrocatalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells A Mechanistic Investigation

Semiconductor nanowires represent an important class of nanostructure building block for photovoltaics as well as direct solar-to-fuel application because of their high surface area, tunable bandgap and efficient charge transport and collection. In this talk, I will highlight several recent examples in this lab using semiconductor nanowires and their heterostructures for the purpose of solar energy harvesting. In addition, we have also discovered that the thermoconductivity of the silicon nanowires can be significantly reduced due to phonon scattering, pointing to a very promising approach to design better thermoelectrical materials. It is important to note that the engines that generate most of the world's power typically operate at only 30–40 per cent efficiency, releasing roughly 15 terawatts of heat to the environment. If this “wasted heat” could be recycled, the impact globally would be enormous. Our silicon nanowire thermoelectric technology could have a significant impact in alternative energy generation.

Semiconductor nanowires for energy conversion.

The growth of platinum particle supported on an acetylene black was investigated fundamentally using a potential perturbation method in phosphoric acid at 205°C and atmospheric pressure. Platinum particles in a colony were agglomerated to form one particle depending on the potential of the electrode and number of particles in the colony. Platinum dissolution and redeposition were considered to be the main reasons for the agglomeration.

Agglomeration of Platinum Particles Supported on Carbon in Phosphoric Acid

Thick vacuum deposited silicon films suitable for the anode of Li-ion battery

A methanol fuel cell wherein a positive electrode (2) and a negative electrode (1) are disposed in contact with a solid film (3) which exhibits a hydrogen ion- and/ or hydronium ion-conductivity. The methanol permeability coefficient of the solid film (3) of the methanol fuel cell is at most 1 x 10-6 mol/mol/l).min.cm2.

Methanol fuel cell

In a fuel cell having a fuel electrode, an oxidant electrode, and an electrolyte which is located between both the electrodes, a methanol concentration control device is disposed, at a pipe which supplies the fuel to the fuel cell for controlling the amount of the methanol in the pipe by detecting the open-circuit voltage of the unit cell or the open-circuit potential of the oxidant cell at the methanol concentration control device.

Fuel cell comprising a device for detecting the concentration of methanol

The relationship between acid absorption of the catalyst layer and performance of the gas diffusion electrode in a phosphoric acid fuel cell is investigated, together with the size of pores available for the cathode and anode reactions. The electrode was made from a carbon-supported platinum catalyst and a polytetrafluoroethylene dispersion spread (with a subsequent heating) on a porous carbon substrate. It was found that a nonionic surfactant contained in the dispersion enhanced acid absorption. An analysis of the pore volume and pore distribution indicated that pores from 0.2 to 10 microns in diameter are available for the electrode reactions. 7 references.

Kohki Tamura

Papers

Agglomeration of Platinum Particles Supported on Carbon in Phosphoric Acid

Thick vacuum deposited silicon films suitable for the anode of Li-ion battery

Methanol fuel cell

Fuel cell comprising a device for detecting the concentration of methanol

Phosphoric Acid Absorption and Performance of Gas Diffusion Electrode