Investigation of fabrication of gas diffusion substrate for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The gas diffusion substrate (GDS) is essential in the proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Its fabrication techniques affect the performance significantly and are worthy of investigation. In this study, a manufacturing process of the GDS is proposed to understand the formation process of GDS and promote its structure and performance more pertinently. Different states during the preparation process, raw carbon paper, pre-curing, curing, carbonation, and graphitization, are characterized and measured. Experimental and numerical methods are employed to determine the relationships between microstructure, transport, and mechanical performance variation with the fabricating processes. The results show that its porosity, average pore size, and effective diffusivity decrease first and increase after curing. These parameters after graphitization are lower than that of the carbon paper (CP). The electrical resistivity increases dramatically while pre-curing and decreases gradually after curing, carbonation, and graphitization, and it is much reduced after graphitization. Moreover, mechanical measurement results show that both the picks of tensile strength and flexural modulus occur after curing. Its tensile strength shows little change after graphitization compared to the initial paper's. In contrast, the flexural modulus is improved significantly.     

One-step to prepare high-performance gas diffusion layer (GDL) with three different functional layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

Gas diffusion layer (GDL) is one of the most important components of fuel cells. In order to improve the fuel cell performance, GDL has developed from single layer to dual layers, and then to multiple layers. However, dual or multi layers in GDL are usually prepared by layer-by-layer methods, which cost too much time, energy, and resources. In this work, we successfully developed a facile one-step method to prepare a GDL with three functional layers by utilizing the different sedimentation rates and filtration rates of short carbon fiber (CF) and carbon nanotube (CNT). The treatment temperature for this GDL is much lower than that of traditional method. The thickness of the GDL can be effectively controlled from as thin as 50 μm to more than 200 μm by simply adjusting the content of CF. The GDL with high flexibility is suitable to develop high performance flexible electronics. The fuel cell with the GDL has the maximum power density 1021 mW cm^?2, which shows 19% improvement comparing to the conventional one. Therefore, this work breaks the traditional concept that GDL for fuel cells only can be prepared by very complex and high-cost procedure.     

Direct ink writing of vancomycin-loaded polycaprolactone/ polyethylene oxide/ hydroxyapatite 3D scaffolds

Novel inks were formulated by dissolving polycaprolactone (PCL), a hydrophobic polymer, in organic solvent systems; polyethylene oxide (PEO) was incorporated to extend the range of hydrophilicity of the system. Hydroxyapatite (HAp) with a weight ratio of 55–85% was added to the polymer-based solution to mimic the material composition of natural bone tissue. The direct ink writing (DIW) technique was applied to extrude the formulated inks to fabricate the predesigned tissue scaffold structures; the influence of HAp concentration was investigated. The results indicate that in comparison to other inks containing HAp (55%, 75%, and 85%w/w), the ink containing 65% w/w HAp had faster ink recovery behavior; the fabricated scaffold had a rougher surface as well as better mechanical properties and wettability. It is noted that the 65% w/w HAp concentration is similar to the inorganic composition of natural bone tissue. The elastic modulus values of PCL/PEO/HAp scaffolds were in the range of 4–12 MPa; the values were dependent on the HAp concentration. Furthermore, vancomycin as a model drug was successfully encapsulated in the PCL/PEO/HAp composite scaffold for drug release applications. This paper presents novel drug-loaded PCL/PEO/HAp inks for 3D scaffold fabrication using the DIW printing technique for potential bone scaffold applications.     

Ternary type BaY2ZnO5: Eu3+ deep-red phosphor for possible latent fingerprint,security ink and WLED applications

Pc-WLEDs are considered to play a spectacular role in future generation light sources in view of their outstanding energy efficiency. In this regard, Eu³⁺ activated BaY₂ZnO₅ phosphor was prepared and investigated by XRD, PL and SEM analyses. Rietveld refinement analysis was carried out to confirm the structure of the synthesized phosphor. The prepared phosphor shows an intense red emission around 627 nm under excitation by near UV light. The ⁵D₀-⁷F₂ transition intensity of the prepared phosphor is three times higher compared to the commercial (Y,Gd)BO₃:Eu³⁺ red phosphor. The CIE colour coordinates of BaY₂ZnO₅:Eu³⁺ (9mol%) phosphor corresponds to be (0.6169, 0.3742) and it has a high 97.9 % colour purity. The obtained results reveal the utility of BaY₂ZnO₅:Eu³⁺ phosphor as an efficient red component in WLEDs, anti-counterfeiting and fingerprint detection applications.     

Fabrication of alumina ceramics with functional gradient structures by digital light processing 3D printing technology

Alumina ceramics with different unit numbers and gradient modes were prepared by digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology. The side length of each functional gradient structure was 10 mm, the porosity ratio was controlled to 70%, and the number of units were (1 × 1 × 1 unit) and (2 × 2 × 2 unit) respectively. The different gradient modes were named FCC, GFCC-1, GFCC-2 and GFCC-3. SEM, XRD, and other characterization methods proved that these gradient structures of alumina ceramics had only α-Al2O3 phase and good surface morphology. The mechanical properties and energy absorption properties of alumina ceramics with different functional gradient structures were studied by compression test. The results show that the gradient structure with 1 × 1 × 1 unit has better mechanical properties and energy absorption properties when the number of units is different. When the number of units is the same, GFCC-2 and GFCC-3 gradient structures have better compressive performance and energy absorption potential than FCC structures. The GFCC-2 gradient structure with 1 × 1 × 1 unit has a maximum compressive strength of 19.62 MPa and a maximum energy absorption value of 2.72 × 105 J/m3. The good performance of such functional gradient structures can provide new ideas for the design of lightweight and compressive energy absorption structures in the future.     

The impact of the thermal treatment during ink preparation on the ionomer-supported catalyst interactions in the catalyst layers

Catalyst slurries (inks) were prepared with and without thermal treatment to determine the support/ionomer structures and interactions in the catalyst layer (CL) which impact on membrane electrode performance and durability. The thermal treatment of the ink has a nominal effect on the ionomer/support structure in which the carbon support is non-graphitised. The agglomerate/aggregate structures have a high degree of support/ionomer interface and sufficient macroporosity for water movement in the CL. This improves the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance, but also accelerates electrochemical carbon degradation. Thermal treatment of graphitised support-containing inks resulted in increased performance facilitated by a larger support/ionomer interface. Without thermal treatment, the more hydrophobic support would form aggregate structures in which water contact was restricted, limiting proton transfer, isolating catalyst, decreasing performance. The water limited access, would however, prolong stability during accelerates carbon degradation. The electrochemical properties were studied using full and half MEA cells.     

Multi-dimensional modeling of mixture preparation in a direct injection engine fueled with gaseous hydrogen

With the recent advances of direct injection (DI) technology, introducing hydrogen into the combustion chamber through DI is being considered as a viable approach to circumvent backfire and pre-ignition encountered in early generations of hydrogen engines. As part of a broader vision to develop a robust numerical model to study hydrogen spark ignition (SI) combustion in internal combustion (IC) engines, the present numerical investigation focuses on mixture preparation in a hydrogen DI SI engine. This study is carried out with a single hole injector with gaseous hydrogen injected at 100 bar injection pressure. Simulations are carried out for high and low tumble configurations and validated against optical data acquired from planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements. Varying mesh configurations are investigated for the impact on in-cylinder mixture distribution. A particular emphasis is placed on the effect of nozzle geometry and mesh orientation near the wall. Overall, the computational model is found to predict the mixture distribution in the combustion cylinder reasonably well. The results showed that the alignment of mesh with the flow direction is important to achieve good agreement between numerical analysis and optical measurement data.     

稳产国Ⅵ柴油并兼产喷气燃料技术方案的工业应用

介绍了浙江石油化工有限公司新建的3 Mt/a柴油加氢精制装置，其配套使用中国石化石油化工科学研究院有限公司开发的催化剂级配技术，并实施了可根据原料供应及市场产品需求情况灵活调整切换的2种生产技术方案。1 a的安稳生产运行结果表明:该装置以直馏柴油为主原料，通过分馏塔的馏分切割及其侧线抽出，实现了稳产国Ⅵ柴油并兼产喷气燃料技术方案的工业化应用；在实施以兼产喷气燃料为主的生产技术方案时，通过调整常一线柴油的掺炼量，不仅可以生产含硫量小于10.0 μg/g的精制柴油产品，同时兼产所得到的喷气燃料产品含硫量小于0.5 μg/g，赛波特颜色号值大于30；在实施主产精制柴油组分方案时，通过掺炼质量分数为20%~40%的催化柴油，并使所提炼得到的精制柴油组分含硫量小于6.0 μg/g的前提下，这些精制柴油组分产品既可直接作为满足国Ⅵ柴油产品出厂待售，也可作为柴油调和组分储存待用于产品的进一步优化。     

生物质基喷气燃料的生产及应用进展

生物质基喷气燃料是指全部或大部分来源于生物资源的喷气燃料，符合清洁低碳、安全高效的现代能源体系的要求。以生物质基喷气燃料替代传统石油基喷气燃料有助于我国早日实现“碳达峰、碳中和”的远大目标。在阐述生物质基喷气燃料生产工艺的发展历程及生物质基喷气燃料应用现状的基础上，提出高密度的生物质基喷气燃料是未来喷气燃料的发展方向，具有多环结构的生物质是合成高密度生物质基喷气燃料组分的优质原料；同时，总结了高密度生物质基喷气燃料组分生产工艺的研究进展，展望了生物质基喷气燃料未来的发展及挑战。