Scientific aspects of polymer electrolyte fuel cell durability and degradation.

TLDR: The research focuses on 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.

Abstract: 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