Methane storage in wet activated carbon: Studies on the charging/discharging process

The dynamic behavior of charging/discharging methane onto/from water-preloaded activated carbon was studied at different conditions. It was shown that methane hydrate could form quickly in the porous space of carbon at the condition of 275 K and pressures beginning with 4.12 MPa. The stored methane could be continuously released at a constant flowrate for the whole discharging process. The packing density of 0.6 g cm⁻³ seemed optimal for the wet carbon tested, which yielded 152 V/V of released methane at charging pressure of 8 MPa. The thermal effect observed on the charging/discharging process was low and did not affect the effective storage capacity.     

A Novel Design of Wave‐Like PEMFC Stack with Undulate MEAs and Perforated Bipolar Plates

Commercialisation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology depends on high volumetric power density and specific power for a given cost. In the present study, a novel wave‐like architecture for PEMFC stack based on undulate membrane electrode assembles (MEAs) and perforated bipolar plates (PBPs) was presented. Different from conventional plate‐and‐frame architecture, this design increased active area and achieved higher volumetric power density due to undulate MEAs. Moreover, perforated sheet metal was used as bipolar plates so that it could improve specific power. A single cell was designed and fabricated in house to evaluate the performance of the novel architecture stack. Stamped PBPs with open rate of 28.26% and hot pressed 5‐layer undulate MEAs with Nafion® 112 were adopted. The results indicated that the peak volumetric power density and specific power are 2,715.94 W L^–1 and 2,157.86 W kg^–1, respectively, while they are 2,151.28 W L^–1 and 1,709.22 W kg^–1 at the output voltage of 0.6 V. This study may propose a possible means to meet the DOE's 2010 technical target that volumetric power density is 2,000 W L^–1 and specific power is 2,000 W kg^–1 for stack.     

The effect of halide ion concentration on capacitor performance

The effect of halide ion concentration on the capacitor performance was considered during this study. Iodide anion has been selected as the most profitable halide taking into account its electrochemical properties and environmental impact. Several concentrations of NaI were tested (from 0.25 to 5 mol L^?1 aqueous solutions) using as electrodes two commercial activated carbons and one KOH-activated carbon. Detailed electrochemical investigation by galvanostatic charging/discharging, cyclic voltammetry, and impedance spectroscopy confirmed the significant impact of iodide concentration on the supercapacitor behavior. The higher concentration of iodide affected especially the performance of positive electrode; increase of iodide concentration changed the potential range of positive electrode and its capacitance increased from 119 F g^?1 for 0.25 mol L^?1 NaI to 475 F g^?1 for 2 mol L^?1 NaI solution. The electrode capacitance measured in two-electrode system at current density of 2 A g^?1 ranged from 198 F g^?1 for 0.25 mol L^?1 NaI to 272 F g^?1 for 2 mol L^?1 NaI solution (capacitance expressed as average of the positive and negative electrode capacitances). It has been proved that 2 mol L^?1 alkali metal iodide solution is an optimal electrolyte for the capacitor based on KOH-activated carbon. High capacitance values and perfect stability (100 % retention) of such systems have been observed during long-term galvanostatic charging/discharging (15,000 cycles). In addition, satisfactory floating tests at extended voltage range (1.2 V) were performed.     

Development and operation of a 150 W air-feed direct methanol fuel cell stack

A five-cell 150 W air-feed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack was demonstrated. The DMFC cells employed Nafion 117^® as a solid polymer electrolyte membrane and high surface area carbon supported Pt-Ru and Pt catalysts for methanol electrooxidation and oxygen reduction, respectively. Stainless steel-based stack housing and bipolar plates were utilized. Electrodes with a 225 cm² geometrical area were manufactured by a doctor-blade technique. An average power density of about 140 mW cm^–2 was obtained at 110 °C in the presence of 1 M methanol and 3 atm air feed. A small area graphite single cell (5 cm²) based on the same membrane electrode assembly (MEA) gave a power density of 180 mW cm^–2 under similar operating conditions. This difference is ascribed to the larger internal resistance of the stack and to non-homogeneous reactant distribution. A small loss of performance was observed at high current densities after one month of discontinuous stack operation.     

Asymmetric Flexible Supercapacitor Stack

Electrical double layer supercapacitor is very significant in the field of electrical energy storage which can be the solution for the current revolution in the electronic devices like mobile phones, camera flashes which needs flexible and miniaturized energy storage device with all non-aqueous components. The multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor deposition technique over hydrogen decrepitated Mischmetal (Mm) based AB₃ alloy hydride. The polymer dispersed MWNTs have been obtained by insitu polymerization and the metal oxide/MWNTs were synthesized by sol-gel method. Morphological characterizations of polymer dispersed MWNTs have been carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM and HRTEM). An assymetric double supercapacitor stack has been fabricated using polymer/MWNTs and metal oxide/MWNTs coated over flexible carbon fabric as electrodes and nafion^® membrane as a solid electrolyte. Electrochemical performance of the supercapacitor stack has been investigated using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.     

Performance Improvement of Wave‐Like PEMFC Stack with Compound Membrane Electrode Assembly

The novel architecture of wave‐like proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack developed in our previous work achieved peak volumetric power density and specific power of 2,715.9 W L^–1 and 2,157.9 W kg^–1, respectively. However, there still existed perforated bipolar plates and the carbon fiber gas diffusion layer (GDL) was easy to cause damage during the fabrication process of undulate membrane electrode assembles (MEAs). In the present study, sintered stainless steel fiber felt (SSSFF) was employed to work as metallic GDL (MGDL) and bipolar plates simultaneously. Compound membrane electrode assembles (CMEAs) with serpentine and interdigitated flow channels were designed and fabricated using stamping process. A single cell with CMEA was assembled in house and the output performance was evaluated systemically. The results indicated that the peak volumetric power density and specific power of wave‐like PEMFC single with CMEA are 5,764.0 W L^–1 and 4,693.5 W kg^–1 respectively. This study achieved a significant performance improvement due to the concept of CMEA and may propose a possible means to meet the DOE's 2020 technical target that volumetric power density is 2,500 W L^–1 and specific power is 2,000 W kg^–1 for stack.     

Synergistic Effects of Carbon Fillers of Phenolic Resin Based Composite Bipolar Plates on the Performance of PEM Fuel Cell

The most essential and costly component of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is the bipolar plate. The production of suitable composite bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell with good mechanical properties and high electrical conductivity is scientifically and technically very challenging. This paper reports the development of composite bipolar plates using exfoliated graphite, carbon black, and graphite powder in resole‐typed phenol formaldehyde. The exfoliated graphite with maximum exfoliated volume of 570 ± 10 mL g⁻¹ used in this study was prepared by microwave irradiation of chemically intercalated natural flake graphite in a few minutes. The composite plates were prepared by varying exfoliated graphite content from 10 to 35 wt.% in phenolic resin along with fixed weight percentage of carbon black (5 wt.%) and graphite powder (3 wt.%) by compression molding. The composite plates with filler weight percentage of 35/5/3/exfoliated graphite/carbon black/graphite powder offer in‐plane and trough‐plane electrical conductivities of 374.42 and 97.32 S cm⁻¹, bulk density 1.58 g cm⁻³, compressive strength 70.43 MPa, flexural strength 61.82 MPa, storage modulus 10.25 GPa, microhardness 73.23 HV and water absorption 0.22%. Further, I–V characteristics notify that exfoliated graphite/carbon black/graphite powder/resin composite bipolar plates in unit fuel cell shows better cell performance compared exfoliated graphite/resin composite bipolar plates. The composite plates own desired mechanical properties with low bulk density, high electrical conductivity, and good thermal stability as per the U.S. department of energy targets at low filler concentration and can be used as bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells.     

Characterization of PTFE-bonded porous carbonelectrodes tested in a 100W phosphoric acid fuel cell(PAFC) stack using XPS and ICP–AES techniques

A 100W PAFC stack with 12 cells was assembled using in-house developed PTFE-bonded gas diffusion porous carbon electrodes, graphite bipolar plates and aluminium external gas manifolds. The stack was operated for 1000h continuously with acid management, using H2 and air at 1bar and at 175°C. After completion of the test the stack was disassembled and the electrodes were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP–AES) techniques. The XPS and ICP–AES results revealed the presence of platinum in the electrolyte matrix layers (SiC+PTFE) and carbon mat layers (carbon+PTFE), which were applied on the cathodes and the anodes, respectively. This clearly indicates that there was a migration of platinum from cathodes to anodes during the stack operation. This may have occurred when operating the stack at it's open circuit voltage (OCV) while taking measurements of stack voltage and curre nt for the I/V curves.     

Electrochemical study of the LaFe0.8Ni0.2O3 perovskite-type oxide used as anode in nickel-metal hydride batteries

The electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of the LaFe_0.8Ni_0.2O₃ perovskite-type oxide used as the negative electrode in the nickel metal-hydride battery have been studied in this work. This oxide has been synthesized by the sol-gel method and its structure and electrochemical properties are systematically studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the LaFe_0.8Ni_0.2O₃ perovskite-type oxide consists of a single phase and crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group with the Pnma space group. The electrochemical cycling properties of the LaFe_0.8Ni_0.2O₃ negative electrode were carried out at 25 °C using the galvanostatic charging and discharging polarization method for 50 cycles. An optimization of the experimental parameters were carried out in order to optimize the charging potential, the charging and discharging current and the charging time. The best properties were observed for the optimal parameters, such as a discharge potential of 0.4V, a charge and discharge current of 4.44 mA g^?1 and a charge time of 5 h.     

Development and Characterisation of Electrically Conductive Polymeric‐Based Blends for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates

The main objective of this work was to develop films with controlled dimensions for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) bipolar plates (BPPs) using the twin‐screw extrusion process. These films consisted of a low‐viscosity polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in which a mixture of high specific surface area carbon black (CB) and synthetic flake graphite (GR) were dispersed. A third conductive additive, consisting of silver‐coated glass particles (SCG) or multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), was also added at a low concentration (5 wt.‐%) in order to study its synergistic effect on the PET‐based blend electrical conductivity. As the developed blends had to meet properties suitable for PEMFC bipolar plate applications, they were characterised for their electrical through‐plane resistivity, mechanical properties and oxygen permeability. Through‐plane electrical resistivity of about 0.3 Ω·cm and oxygen permeation rate of 3.5 × 10^–8 cc cm^–2 s^–1 were obtained for only 30 wt.‐% of a 60:40 mixture of CB/GR conductive additives. Although the substitution of 5 wt.‐% of CB/GR by the same amount of MWCNT had no significant effect on BPPs' electrical resistivity, it helped to improve their mechanical properties and especially their oxygen permeation, which was decreased from 3.5 × 10^–8 cc cm^–2 s^–1 to around 0.6 × 10^–8 cc cm^–2 s^–1.     

湿活性炭储天然气方法

Storing natural gas in wet active carbon is a recently proposed method. The research progress shows that this method considerably decreases the storage pressure while maintaining the storage capacity equal to or even higher than compressed natural gas （CNG）. There is no requirement of pre-sifting any component out of natural gas for the storage, and the thermal effect on fast charging/discharging has almost no effect on the storage capacity. The charging and discharging processes are reversible and show good dynamic behavior. Although the storage temperature is a little lower than the ambient, the new method seems technically and costly more competitive than the available methods.     

Corn Cob Lignin-based Porous Carbon Modified Reduced Graphene Oxide Film For Flexible Supercapacitor Electrode

Flexible supercapacitors (FSCs) have attracted widespread attention of many researchers as a type of portable energy storage devices. However, there are still challenges in preparing renewable and inexpensive electrode materials. Herein, we prepared the porous carbon (PC) by the two-step process involving hydrothermal method and low-temperature heat treatment using corn cob lignin as the carbon source, and different types for PC were obtained by changing the temperature of low temperature heat treatment (100?°C–300?°C). The flexible electrode film was prepared by combining the obtained corn cob lignin-based PC with reduced graphene oxide (RGO), in addition, we investigated the effect of PC obtained by different low-temperature heat treatment (100?°C, 150?°C, 200?°C, 250?°C, and 300?°C) on the electrochemical properties of the composite electrode. The optimal low-temperature heat treatment temperature (250?°C) was determined and the PC250/RGO film electrodes displayed a high area specific capacitance of 636 mF/cm² with a mass of 2.2?mg/cm² (specific capacitance of 289?F/g) at 0.2?mA/cm² and 82% of the capacitance was retained after 10,000 charge and discharge cycles at 5?mA/cm², at the same time on the electrode film flexibility test, the influence of different bending angle on the electrochemical properties can be ignored. The assembled supercapacitor had the advantages of flexible, lightweight, low price, and environment friendly, which can achieve area specific capacitance of 324.5 mF/cm² at 0.2?mA/cm² and 91.8% capacitance retention after 1000 charging/discharging cycles. These good electrochemical properties illustrate the application prospects of composite electrode materials in wearable and portable electronic devices.     

Simulative Approach for Linking Electrode and Electrolyte Properties to Supercapacitor Performance

Supercapacitors as energy storage devices show distinct advantages like high power density and high cycle stability. While in current applications, mainly the high power density is leveraged, future non‐mobile storage devices could also benefit from the robustness and materials employed, while lower charging/discharging time constants are acceptable. In this study, a simulative approach is employed to investigate the complex interplay of mass transfer, electric losses, double layer capacitance for different electrode thicknesses, electrode and electrolyte conductivities as well as charging/discharging time constants. Within the simulation cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic cycling as also electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiment could be realized, showing the dependency of achievable maximum capacitance and voltage efficiency on various properties.     

High performance wire-shaped supercapacitive electrodes based onactivated carbon fibers core/manganese dioxide shell structures

Micro/nano hierarchical structures with uniformly patterned nanostructures shell and activated internal core are promising for boosting electrochemical performance. Here we report the fabrication of wire-shaped supercapacitive electrodes with manganese dioxide (MnO₂) nanostructures shell integrated onto activated carbon fiber (ACF) core. The ACF core is doped with nitrogen heteroatom and shows good conductivity and hydrophilicity, which endow fast ion and electron transport and high accessibility of electrolyte. The MnO₂ nanostructures shell integrated on the ACF core by electrodeposition method together provide significant pseudocapacitive contribution associated with fast faradaic reactions. The electrochemical performance of the fabricated electrodes was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charging/discharging and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The integrated wire-shaped electrodes, which boost the synergetic effect of MnO₂ nanostructures and ACF, have excellent current collecting capabilities thus resulting high electrochemical performance (with the specific capacitance of 26.64 mF cm⁻¹ at the current density of 0.1 mA cm⁻¹ and 96% capacitance retention after 8000 charging/discharging cycles at the current density of 1 mA cm⁻¹).     

Study of a Nanoparticle Charger Containing Multiple Discharging Wires in a Tube

Abstract

A unipolar charger containing multiple discharging wires in a tube (inner diameter: 50 mm) was developed and tested in order to increase the aerosol flow rate and the charging efficiency of nanoparticles. Four gold wires of 25 µm in diameter and 15 mm in length were used as the discharging electrodes to generate positive ions (N_i) from 2.72 × 10⁸ ions/cc to 3.87 × 10⁹ ions/cc in concentration at the discharging voltage of + 4.0 ～ + 10 KV. Monodisperse NaCl particles of 10 ～ 50 nm in diameter were used to test the charging efficiency and the particle loss of charged particles with different aerosol flow rates, corona voltages and sheath flow rates. The sheath air near the tube wall was found to increase the extrinsic charging efficiency, and the highest efficiency was obtained at + 6.0 KV discharging voltage, 10 L/min aerosol flow rate and 9 L/min sheath flow rate. The extrinsic charging efficiency increased from 10.6% to 74.2% when the particle diameter was increased from 10 to 50 nm. The TDMA (tandem differential mobility analyzer) method was used to determine the charge distribution and the mean charge per particle and it was found that the Fuchs charging theory corrected for the extrinsic charging efficiency matched with the experimental data very well.     

Metallic Bipolar Plates for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

High temperature polymer membrane fuel cells (HTPEMFCs) are promising devices for future mobile applications. To minimize phosphoric acid migration from the membranes and to reduce the total stack weight and size metallic bipolar plates are a promising alternative. So far only very few published results are available on the use of metallic bipolar plates in HTPEMFCs. During this work a single test cell was equipped with metallic endplates to investigate the possibility of using metallic bipolar plates in HTPEMFC stacks. Furthermore we tried to simulate the environments present in an HTPEMFC by furnace exposures in an attempt to develop a simplified test method for accelerated corrosion of bipolar plate materials. It was found that the performance of the HTPEM test cell decreased by about 15 µV h⁻¹. More corrosion products were seen on the cathode side samples, whereas on the anode side sample the corrosion attack of the steel was more severe. These results were successfully replicated in simulated furnace experiments.     

Electrical conductivity modeling of carbon‐filled liquid‐crystalline polymer composites

Electrically conductive resins are needed for bipolar plates used in fuel cells. Currently, the materials for these bipolar plates often contain a single type of graphite powder in a thermosetting resin. In this study, various amounts of two different types of carbon, carbon black and synthetic graphite, were added to a thermoplastic matrix. The resulting single‐filler composites were tested for electrical conductivity, and electrical conductivity models were developed. Two different models, the Mamunya and additive electrical conductivity models, were used for both material systems. It was determined how to modify these models to reduce the number of adjustable parameters. The models agreed very well with experimental data covering a large range of filler volume fractions (from 0 to 12 vol % for the carbon black filled composites and from 0 to 65 vol % for the synthetic graphite filled composites) and electrical conductivities (from 4.6 × 10^?17 S/cm for the pure polymer to 0.5 S/cm for the carbon black filled composites and to 12 S/cm for the synthetic graphite filled composites). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3293–3300, 2006     

Preparation and characterization of epoxy/carbon fiber composite capacitors

Capacitors based on structural carbon fiber electrodes and epoxy‐based gel polymer electrolyte have been fabricated. The electrochemical properties of electrolytes and capacitors were evaluated by linear sweep voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. Surface modification of carbon fibers was carried out by oxidation, and the structural and surface characteristics of carbon fibers were investigated by scanning electron microscope, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller, and Boehm titration. The results showed that the electrochemical stability window of the electrolyte reached 2.75 V and the ionic conductivity reached the order of 10⁻⁵ S/cm at room temperature. Surface modification of carbon fiber by oxidation can enlarge fiber area and strengthen fiber chemical activity, as well as its energy storage ability. The specific capacitance of epoxy/carbon fiber composite capacitor was obtained as high as 3.0 F/g with good cycling performance. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:1447–1453, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Oxidation processes on conducting carbon additives for lithium-ion batteries

The oxidation processes at the interface between different types of typical carbon additives for lithium-ion batteries and carbonates electrolyte above 5?V versus Li/Li⁺ were investigated. Depending on the nature and surface area of the carbon additive, the irreversible capacity during galvanostatic cycling between 2.75 and 5.25?V versus Li/Li⁺ could be as high as 700?mAh?g^?1 (of carbon). In the potential region below 5?V versus Li/Li⁺, high surface carbon additives also showed irreversible plateaus at about 4.1?C4.2 and 4.6?V versus Li/Li⁺. These plateaus disappeared after thermal treatments at or above 150?°C in inert gas. The influence of the irreversible capacity of carbon additives on the overall performances of positive electrodes was discussed.     

Fabrication of electrically conductive polymer composites for bipolar plate by two‐step compression molding technique

Electrically conductive polymer composites for bipolar plate were fabricated by two‐step compression molding technique. Raw materials consisted of natural graphite flakes (G), expanded graphite (EG), carbon black (CB), and phenol resin (PF). The G/EG/CB/PF composites were first compressed at a temperature lower than curing point (100°C) and then cured at a high temperature above curing point (150°C) and high pressure (10 MPa). Results showed that G and EG are oriented in the direction parallel to the composite plate surface. CB is dispersed not only in the phenol resin matrix but also in the packing and porous space of G and EG. The addition of EG and CB significantly increases number of the electrical channels and thus enhances the electrical conductivity of the composite. Under optimal conditions, electrical conductivity and flexural strength of the composite were 2.80 × 10⁴ S/m and 55 MPa, respectively, suggesting that the dipolar plates prepared by two‐step compression molding technique are adequate to meet the requirement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 2296–2302, 2013