Center for Materials Chemistry Alternative Energy Technologies: Fuel Cells Allan J. Jacobson Center for Materials Chemistry University of Houston 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Future Fuels and Electricity Now: Fossil fuels: natural gas, oil, coal Gas, steam turbines, combined cycle Intermediate: Hydrogen from fossil fuels Fuel cells and new processes Distributed systems Superconducting transmission lines Future Nuclear Solar Hydrogen from water Electrolysis Thermal from HT nuclear reactors Photo-electrolysis Renewables ‘Supergrid’ 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Key Drivers 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Sources of Hydrogen 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH Current US H2 refining / petrochemical demand is estimated at nine million tons annually (0.9 Quad 1015 Btu of H2). 0r 8.2 x 109 Kg/year $5/Kg now 100 million FC vehicles will need 40 million tons per year. 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

What is a Fuel Cell? 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Fuel Cell Operation 500 – 1000 °C porous cathode Cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte sandwiched between the two. Oxygen from the air flows through the cathode A fuel gas containing hydrogen, such as methane, flows past the anode. Oxygen ions migrate through the electrolyte and react with the hydrogen to form water Water reacts with the methane fuel to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Electrons from the electrochemical reaction flow from anode to cathode through an external load electrolyte/membrane 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Advantages of Fuel Cells High efficiency Modular Quiet Non Polluting - no NOx Distributed Combined heat and power Load flexible 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Fuel Cell History 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Fuel Cell History 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Fuel Cell Types I Alkaline (AFC) developed for the Apollo program Polymer membrane (PEMC) leading candidate for transportation Phosphoric acid (PAFC) 200kW units commercially available for combined heat and power (CHP) Molten carbonate (MCFC) and solid oxide (SOFC) can work directly with hydrocarbon fuels – 200+kW demonstration units Taken from B. C. H. Steele & A. Heinzel, Nature, 414 (2001) 345 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Fuel Cell Types II Taken from B. C. H. Steele & A. Heinzel, Nature, 414 (2001) 345 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

PEMFC Electrodes (anode and the cathode) separated by a polymer membrane electrolyte. Each of the electrodes is coated on one side with a thin platinum catalyst layer. The electrodes, catalyst and membrane form the membrane electrode assembly. Hydrogen and air are supplied on either side through channels formed in the flow field plates Ballard® fuel cell 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Advanced Fuel Cell Electrodes-PEM A current DOE target is to develop alternative electrodes to replace the Pt and Pt-Ru electrodes that are used as cathode and anode electrocatalysts in PEM fuel cells. Ideally the anode catalyst would be tolerant to CO and S present in the hydrogen fuel. The figure shows a new class of non-Pt electrocatalysts that have activity comparable to Pt as shown by the performance of cell with the new catalyst as the anode. % Anode = 0.35 mg/cm2 Pt Loading % Anode = 0.72 mg/cm2 catalyst loading 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Voltage (V) Current Density (mA/cm2) 20 40 60 80 120 140 Power Density, (mW/cm2) 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

SOFC Cathode (La,Sr)MnO3 1.5 m extruded tubular (2.2 mm) porous cathode Interconnection (La,Sr)CrO3 plasma spraying (85 m) Electrolyte 8%Y2O3-ZrO2 thick-film (30–40 m) Anode Ni/ 8%Y2O3-ZrO2 porous layer (100 m) by a slurry-spray process Siemens Westinghouse fuel cell 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Future Applications Application Size (kW) Fuel cell Fuel Power systems 0.001–0.05 PEMFC hydrogen for portable DMFC methanol electronic devices SOFC methanol Micro-Combined Heat 1–10 PEMFC LPG and Power SOFC Natural gas, LPG Auxiliary power units 1–10 SOFC LPG Distributed Combined Heat 50–250 PEMFC natural gas and Power MCFC natural gas SOFC natural gas City buses 200 PEMFC hydrogen Large power units 1000–10,000 SOFC/GT natural gas 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Technical Challenges Many Challenges in Materials and Materials Processing CO tolerant electrocatalysts Better membranes for PEMFC and DMFC Intermediate temperature high performance electrodes Low cost fabrication processes for SOFC New materials! 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Current Industrial Teams Core Technology Program Participants: Gas Technology Institute – Des Plaines, IL Georgia Tech Research – Atlanta, GA Montana State University – Bozeman, MT NexTech Materials, Ltd – Worthington, OH Northwestern University – Evanston, IL Southwest Research Institute – San Antonio, TX Texas A&M University – College Station, TX University of Florida – Gainesville, FL University of Illinois – Chicago, IL University of Houston – Houston, TX University of Missouri – Rolla, MO University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, PA University of Utah – Salt Lake City, UT University of Washington – Seattle, WA Virginia Tech – Blacksburg, VA Current Industrial Teams Argonne National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory National Energy Technology Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sandia National Laboratories 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Water Electrolysis 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Sources of Hydrogen 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH

Water Gas Shift Reactor Hydrogen Production Membrane reactor CO2 Sequestration CO2 CO2 +H2 Hydrogen Separation Device (PSA, HTM) Water Gas Shift Reactor CO +H2 H2 Fuel Cells 9/22/2018 A.J. Jacobson – CMC-UH