Additive manufacturing of liquid/gas diffusion layers for low-cost and high-efficiency hydrogen production
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tullahoma, TN (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
In this study, a low-cost additive manufacturing technology, electron beam melting (EBM), is employed for the first time to fabricate titanium liquid/gas diffusion media with high-corrosion resistances and well-controlled multifunctional parameters, including two-phase transport and high electric/thermal conductivities. Its application in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) has been investigated in-situ with modular galvano (MG) and galvano electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (GEIS) and characterized ex-situ with SEM and XRD. Compared with conventional woven and sintered liquid/gas diffusion layers (LGDLs), much better performance is obtained with EBM-fabricated LGDLs due to a significant reduction of ohmic losses. The EBM technology components exhibited several distinct advantages in fabricating LGDLs: well-controllable pore morphology and structure, rapid prototyping, fast manufacturing, highly customizable design, and economic. In addition, by taking advantage of additive manufacturing, it is possible to fabricate complicated three-dimensional designs of virtually any shape from a digital model into one single solid object faster, cheaper, and easier, especially for titanium components. More importantly, this development will provide LGDLs with well-controllable pore morphologies, which will be valuable to develop sophisticated models of PEMECs with optimal and repeatable performance. Finally and furthermore, it could lead to a manufacturing solution that greatly simplifies the PEMEC/fuel cell components.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; FE0011585
- OSTI ID:
- 1255656
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1261266; OSTI ID: 1352948
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 41, Issue 4; ISSN 0360-3199
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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