United States Department of Energy

About: United States Department of Energy is a government organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Coal & Catalysis. The organization has 13656 authors who have published 14177 publications receiving 556962 citations. The organization is also known as: DOE & Department of Energy.

Supercapacitors based on carbon foams

Abstract: A high energy density capacitor incorporating a variety of carbon foam electrodes is described. The foams, derived from the pyrolysis of resorcinol-formaldehyde and related polymers, are high density (0.1 g/cc-1.0 g/cc) electrically conductive and have high surface areas (400 m2/g-1000 m2/g). Capacitances on the order of several tens of farad per gram of electrodes are achieved. The preferred embodiment capacitor has two cells. In the upper cell (10), a solder-wettable layer (32) and an adhesive metal layer (30) overlie an electrode (22). An electrode separator (40) lies between electrode (22) of the upper cell (10) and electrode (26) of the upper cell (10). Solder-wettable layer (36) and adhesive layer (34) overlie electrode (26). A similar electrode (26) is shown in lower cell (12), with adhesive layer (34) and solder-wettable layer (36) formed thereon. A cell separator (24) lies between electrode (22) of cell (10) and electrode (26) of cell (12).

Best Practices and Testing Protocols for Benchmarking ORR Activities of Fuel Cell Electrocatalysts Using Rotating Disk Electrode

Abstract: Thin-film-rotating disk electrodes (TF-RDEs) are the half-cell electrochemical system of choice for rapid screening of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of novel Pt supported on carbon black supports (Pt/C) electrocatalysts. It has been shown that the magnitude of the measured ORR activity and reproducibility are highly dependent on the system cleanliness, evaluation protocols, and operating conditions as well as ink formulation, composition, film drying, and the resultant film thickness and uniformity. Accurate benchmarks of baseline Pt/C catalysts evaluated using standardized protocols and best practices are necessary to expedite ultra-low-platinum group metal (PGM) catalyst development that is crucial for the imminent commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. We report results of evaluation in three independent laboratories of Pt/C electrocatalysts provided by commercial fuel cell catalyst manufacturers (Johnson Matthey, Umicore, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo—TKK). The studies were conducted using identical evaluation protocols/ink formulation/film fabrication albeit employing unique electrochemical cell designs specific to each laboratory. The ORR activities reported in this work provide a baseline and criteria for selection and scale-up of novel high activity ORR electrocatalysts for implementation in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs).