Recent Developments and Issues for MEA Test Plan By Thomas I. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Recent Developments and Issues for MEA Test Plan By Thomas I. Valdez Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology NASA FUEL CELL MEETING Hyatt Regency San Francisco at Embarcadero Center WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2005 Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Presentation Outline • JPL’s Role and Responsibilities for the NASA ECP Program – Task Overview – Program Schedule • NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 Test Stand – Test Stand Components – DAQ GUI • NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 MEA Testing – Experimental – Voltage-Time Plot – Resistance-Time Plot – Hydrogen Peroxide Cathode Performance (CH 3 OH/H 2 O 2 System) • ECP Program Status – Accomplishments – Program Schedule Detail – Future Work Elect rochemical Technologies Group

JPL Task Overview • Technical Objectives of Phase-I – Characterize state-of-art NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 fuel cells – Evaluate new materials supplied by partners for improving reactant regeneration in NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 regenerative fuel cells – Test a NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 regeneration fuel cell based system fabricated by the industry team members – Support the development of a preliminary system design for kW-class regenerative NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 fuel cell based power source • Technical Objectives of Phase-II – Characterize the performance of a kW-class NaBH 4 /H 2 O 2 regeneration fuel cell system fabricated by the industry team members Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Phase I Project Schedule 1. NaBH4/H2O2 Test Stand Development 2. NaBH4/H2O2 Cell Testing 3. Design of 10W Regenerative NaBH4/H2O2 System 4. Testing of 10W Regenerative NaBH4/H2O2 System 5. Design kW-Class Regenerative System Elect rochemical Technologies Group

NaBH4/H2O2 Test Stand Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Test Stand GUI Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Experimental Porous Toray 060 25 cm 2 MEA Specifications Backing • Fabricated via a JPL direct deposit technique • Non-Teflonized Toray 030 paper used Membrane for the electrode backing - + Cell Electrode Area: 25-cm 2 • • Nafion 105 PEM • Fuel Cell Grade Pt-Black catalyst used for the cathode Direct Deposit Catalyst • Pt:Ru/RuO 2 (50:50/100) catalyst mix (Spray) Type 1 used for the anode Reactant Specifications • Fuel: 5% NaBH 4 (Alfa-Aesar) diluted in a 25% NaOH solution (J. T. Baker) 2” • Oxidant: 5% H 2 O 2 stabilized -CMOS grade solution (J. T. Baker) • All solutions were diluted with 18.2 m Ω water. 2” Elect rochemical Technologies Group

NaBH4/H2O2 MEA Testing, Voltage-Time Elect rochemical Technologies Group

NaBH4/H2O2 MEA Testing, Resistance-Time Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Methanol-Hydrogen Peroxide Studies: Cathode Evaluation 0.9 30 o C 0.8 Ec,mix 7 M 0.7 Cell Potential vs. NHE (V) 0.6 4.7 M 3.2 M 0.5 0.4 0.3 Ea 3.2 M ~ 3% H 2 0 2 0.2 4.7 M ~ 11% H 2 0 2 7 M ~ 16.5% H 2 0 2 0.1 0 10 100 1000 Current Density (mA/cm 2 ) Elect rochemical Technologies Group

ECP Program Status: Summary of Accomplishments Programmatic 4.1.1 NaBH4/H2O2 Fuel Cell Fabrication 4.1.1.1 Fuel cell fabrication review, UIUC ( Complete ) 4.1.1.2 Fuel cell fabrication review complete ( Complete ) 4.1.1.3 Receive catalysts from UIUC, Swift, ASU ( 50% Complete ) 4.1.1.4 Catalyst received from UIUC, Swift, ASU 4.1.1.5 Develop MEA fabrication techniques specific to NaBH4/H2O2 ( 25% Complete ) 4.1.2 NaBH4/H2O2 Fuel Cell Testing 4.1.2.1 Modify DMFC single cell test stand to for NaBH4/H2O2 testing ( Complete ) Other Work • We participated in the June 26th fuel cell fabrication review workshop held at UIUC. • JPL submitted presentation on fuel cell fabrication techniques and hydrogen peroxide experimentation. • UIUC MEA Fabrication Review Action Item: Determine the temperature profile for an orbiter traveling from Earth to Lunar orbit as well as the temperature profile for a landed Lunar payload. Elect rochemical Technologies Group

ECP Program Status: Phase I Project Schedule (Detail) Elect rochemical Technologies Group

ECP Program Status: Future Work 3 Construction and Characterization of 10 W Regenerative NaBH4/H2O2 Fuel Cell 3.1 Design and fabrication of 10 W regenerative fuel cell ( To Be Initiated ) 3.1.1 Modify JPL FC models for NaBH4/H2O2 systems ( To Be Initiated ) 4 Catalyst/NaBH4 Optimization 4.1 Experiments with catalysts for positive and negative discharge electrodes 4.1.1 NaBH4/H2O2 Fuel Cell Fabrication 4.1.1.3 Receive catalysts from UIUC, Swift, ASU ( 50% Complete ) ( Catalyst formulations received ) 4.1.1.4 Catalyst received from UIUC, Swift, ASU ( In Progress ) 4.1.1.5 Develop MEA fabrication techniques specific to NaBH4/H2O2 ( In Progress ) 4.1.2 NaBH4/H2O2 Fuel Cell Testing 4.1.2.1 Modify DMFC single cell test stand to for NaBH4/H2O2 testing ( Complete ) 4.1.2.2 Complete modifications to DMFC single cell test stand ( Complete ) 4.1.2.3 NaBH4/H2O2 MEA characterization and analysis, initial studies ( In Progress ) - Voltage-Current Performance - Characterize Fuel/Oxidant Utilization - Characterize Fuel/Oxidant Regeneration Elect rochemical Technologies Group

Acknowledgement The work presented here was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This research was sponsored by NASA under a ESMD program. Elect rochemical Technologies Group