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ElectroCat: DOE's approach to PGM-free catalyst and electrode R&D

Journal Article · · Solid State Ionics
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Dept. of Energy (DOE), Washington DC (United States). Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO)
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)
  5. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
+ Show Author Affiliations

The successful development of high-performance, durable platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) electrocatalysts and electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) will ultimately improve the cost-competiveness of fuel cells in a wide range of applications. This is considered to be a critical development especially for automotive fuel cell applications in order to bring the system cost of an automotive fuel cell system down to the $30/kW cost target set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The platinum group metal (PGM) electrocatalysts are a major contributor to the system cost. Addressing the technical challenges to PGM-free electrocatalyst and electrode development, therefore, represents one of DOE's most pressing research and development (R&D) priorities. ElectroCat was formed by the DOE as part of the Energy Materials Network (EMN) in early 2016, and shares with other EMN consortia the goal of decreasing the time to market for advanced materials related to clean energy technologies, in the context of increasing U.S. fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) manufacturing competitiveness. To accomplish this, the consortium performs core research and development and provides universities and companies streamlined access to the unique, world-class set of tools and expertise relevant to early-stage applied PGM-free catalyst R&D of the member national laboratories. Moreover, ElectroCat fosters a systematic methodology by which prospective catalysts and electrodes are prepared and analyzed rapidly and comprehensively using high-throughput, combinatorial methods. Catalyst discovery is augmented by theory as well as foundational electrocatalysis and materials knowledge at the participating national laboratories. Furthermore, ElectroCat has developed a data sharing framework, requisite of all EMN consortia, for disseminating its findings to the public via a searchable database, to further expedite incorporation of PGM-free electrocatalysts into next-generation fuel cells by advancing the general understanding of the PGM-free electrocatalyst field.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Fuel Cell Technologies Program (EE-3F); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Scientific User Facilities Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1424904
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1548720
OSTI ID: 1460171
OSTI ID: 1461451
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5900-71058
Journal Information:
Solid State Ionics, Journal Name: Solid State Ionics Journal Issue: C Vol. 319; ISSN 0167-2738
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (13)

Iron‐Free Cathode Catalysts for Proton‐Exchange‐Membrane Fuel Cells: Cobalt Catalysts and the Peroxide Mitigation Approach journal December 2018
PGM‐Free Cathode Catalysts for PEM Fuel Cells: A Mini‐Review on Stability Challenges journal December 2018
Insights Into the Effect of Nickel Doping on ZIF‐Derived Oxygen Reduction Catalysts for Zinc−Air Batteries journal February 2019
A Review on Recent Progress in the Aspect of Stability of Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts for Proton‐Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: Quantum Mechanics and Experimental Approaches journal June 2019
Platinum group metal-free catalysts boost cost competitiveness of fuel cell vehicles journal July 2019
Achievements, challenges and perspectives on cathode catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cells for transportation journal July 2019
Highly active atomically dispersed CoN 4 fuel cell cathode catalysts derived from surfactant-assisted MOFs: carbon-shell confinement strategy journal January 2019
Metal–organic frameworks: a promising platform for constructing non-noble electrocatalysts for the oxygen-reduction reaction journal January 2019
Magnetic purification of non-precious metal fuel cell catalysts for obtaining atomically dispersed Fe centers journal January 2020
Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Electrodes with Atomically Dispersed (AD) Fe-C-N ORR Catalyst journal January 2019
Impedance Spectroscopy Characterization of PEM Fuel Cells with Fe-N-C-Based Cathodes journal January 2019
Methanol-Tolerant M–N–C Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reactions in Acidic Media and Their Application in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells journal December 2018
Transition Metal–Nitrogen–Carbon (M–N–C) Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Insights on Synthesis and Performance in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells journal February 2019

Figures / Tables (7)

Table 1(p. 4)table Table 1
Figure 1(p. 6)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 9)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 10)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 12)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 14)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 16)figure Figure 6

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
MEA
PEMFC
PGM-free electrocatalysts
electrodes
oxygen reduction reaction