The Effect of the Roll-to-Roll Process on Catalyst Ink Morphologies

As climate change concerns rise due to our increased dependence on fossil fuels, fuel cells are a promising clean energy technique that can be used to address Canada’s growing energy concerns. A fuel cell uses hydrogen fuel in combination with oxygen to produce electricity with only water as a by-product compared to harmful fossil fuel emissions (e.g., CO2). The performance of a fuel cell is primarily dictated by the structure and composition of a catalyst layer. The catalyst layer is composed of catalytic materials (e.g., platinum nanoparticles), carbon support, and a polymer membrane. In industrial processes, the catalyst layer can often be prepared using a roll-to-roll process as a means to scale-up production methods, but this can result in structural and compositional defects. To assess the variations in the roll-to-roll process (e.g., mechanical and thermal impacts from rollers, material deformations, slurry uniformity, etc.) and the effects on the fuel cell performance, this study will investigate the catalyst layers at different positions during the deposition process to better understand the effects of variations in the catalyst ink on electrochemical performance.

Faculty Supervisor:

Byron Gates

Student:

Partner:

Unilia

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: