Technische Universität Braunschweig
  • Study & Teaching
    • Beginning your Studies
      • Prospective Students
      • Degree Programmes
      • Application
      • Fit4TU
      • Why Braunschweig?
    • During your Studies
      • Fresher's Hub
      • Term Dates
      • Courses
      • Practical Information
      • Beratungsnavi
      • Additional Qualifications
      • Financing and Costs
      • Special Circumstances
      • Health and Well-being
      • Campus life
    • At the End of your Studies
      • Discontinuation and Credentials Certification
      • After graduation
      • Alumni
    • For Teaching Staff
      • Strategy, Offers and Information
      • Learning Management System Stud.IP
    • Contact
      • Study Service Centre
      • Academic Advice Service
      • Student Office
      • Career Service
  • Research
    • Research Profile
      • Core Research Areas
      • Clusters of Excellence at TU Braunschweig
      • Research Projects
      • Research Centres
      • Professors‘ Research Profiles
    • Early Career Researchers
      • Support in the early stages of an academic career
      • PhD-Students
      • Postdocs
      • Junior research group leaders
      • Junior Professorship and Tenure-Track
      • Habilitation
      • Service Offers for Scientists
    • Research Data & Transparency
      • Transparency in Research
      • Research Data
      • Open Access Strategy
      • Digital Research Announcement
    • Research Funding
      • Research Funding Network
      • Research funding
    • Contact
      • Research Services
      • Academy for Graduates
  • International
    • International Students
      • Why Braunschweig?
      • Degree seeking students
      • Exchange Studies
      • TU Braunschweig Summer School
      • Refugees
      • International Student Support
      • International Career Service
    • Going Abroad
      • Studying abroad
      • Internships abroad
      • Teaching and research abroad
      • Working abroad
    • International Researchers
      • Welcome Support for International Researchers
      • Service for Host Institutes
    • Language and intercultural competence training
      • Learning German
      • Learning Foreign Languages
      • Intercultural Communication
    • International Profile
      • Internationalisation
      • International Cooperations
      • Strategic partnerships
      • International networks
    • International House
      • About us
      • Contact & Office Hours
      • News and Events
      • International Days
      • 5th Student Conference: Internationalisation of Higher Education
      • Newsletter, Podcast & Videos
      • Job Advertisements
  • TU Braunschweig
    • Our Profile
      • Aims & Values
      • Regulations and Guidelines
      • Alliances & Partners
      • The University Development Initiative 2030
      • Facts & Figures
      • Our History
    • Career
      • Working at TU Braunschweig
      • Vacancies
    • Economy & Business
      • Entrepreneurship
      • Friends & Supporters
    • General Public
      • Check-in for Students
      • CampusXperience
      • The Student House
      • Access to the University Library
    • Media Services
      • Communications and Press Service
      • Services for media
      • Film and photo permits
      • Advices for scientists
      • Topics and stories
    • Contact
      • General Contact
      • Getting here
  • Organisation
    • Presidency & Administration
      • Executive Board
      • Designated Offices
      • Administration
      • Committees
    • Faculties
      • Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Fakultät
      • Faculty of Life Sciences
      • Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences
      • Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
      • Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Physics
      • Faculty of Humanities and Education
    • Institutes
      • Institutes from A to Z
    • Facilities
      • University Library
      • Gauß-IT-Zentrum
      • Professional and Personnel Development
      • International House
      • The Project House of the TU Braunschweig
      • Transfer Service
      • University Sports Center
      • Facilities from A to Z
    • Equal Opportunity Office
      • Equal Opportunity Office
      • Family
      • Diversity for Students
  • Search
  • Quicklinks
    • People Search
    • Webmail
    • cloud.TU Braunschweig
    • Messenger
    • Cafeteria
    • Courses
    • Stud.IP
    • Library Catalogue
    • IT Services
    • Information Portal (employees)
    • Link Collection
    • DE
    • EN
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • LinkedIn
    • Mastodon
    • Bluesky
Menu
  • Research
  • Research Profile
  • Clusters of Excellence at TU Braunschweig
  • SE²A - Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation
  • Research
  • ICA C "Energy Storage and Conversion"
Logo Sustainable and Energy Efficient Aviation of TU Braunschweig
C6.2 - Design and (nano)engineering of PEMFC cathode catalyst layers to boost the efficiency and life-time under aviation conditions
  • ICA C "Energy Storage and Conversion"
    • C1.1 - Design methods for aircraft energy supply systems
    • C2.2 - Integration Strategies for Power Composites in Aircraft Structures
    • C2.3 - Solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries with enhanced stability and structural integration for aviation
    • C3.1 - Functional 3D design and experimental validation of shape-adaptive fan blading
    • C3.3 - Synthetic Fuel Combustion for Aviation Application
    • C3.5 - Numerical investigations of synthetic fuel flames in aviation conditions
    • C3.6 - AICODE: Artificial Intelligence-enhanced Compressor Design
    • C4.1 - Reliable and Robust Electrical Power Conversion for Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Systems
    • C4.2 - Reliable, Efficient and Lightweight Electric Propulsion Drive Systems with Distributed Energy Supply
    • C5.1 - Total Thermal Management Design and Optimization
    • C5.2 - AER-X: Airbone Energy Recovery via vapor eXpansion
    • C5.3 - Cryogenic hydrogen exergy utilisation: Less heat rejection to ambient and more useable energy for propulsion
    • C6.1 - Data-driven understanding of aviation PEM fuel cells under reliability aspects
    • C6.2 - Design and (nano)engineering of PEMFC cathode catalyst layers to boost the efficiency and life-time under aviation conditions
    • C6.3 - DEFCA: Design-space evaluation of the air-, heat- and power-management of fuel cells for aviation
    • C6.4 - Robust and High-Density Fuel-Cell Systems
    • JRG-C3 - Fuel Cells for Aviation
    • C1.1 - Design methodology for aircraft energy supply systems
    • C2.1 - Fundamentals of ElectroFuel Synthesis for Aviation
    • C2.2 - Structural energy storage focussing on battery cells with load-bearing properties
    • C2.3 - Advanced lithium-sulfur battery concepts for aviation
    • C3.1: Multidisciplinary design of shape-adaptive compressor blading
    • C3.2: Adaptive High-Speed Compressors with optimized stage matching for flexible operation
    • C3.3: Synthetic Fuel Combustion for Aviation Application
    • C4.1 - Electric Propulsion Drive Concepts for Future Electrified Aircraft
    • C4.2 - Power Supply System for All Electric Aircraft
    • ⯇ back to research

C6.2 - Design and (nano)engineering of PEMFC cathode catalyst layers to boost the efficiency and life-time under aviation conditions

Introduction

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are on the verge of commercialization on a larger scale, with one major obstacle standing in the way: low platinum loading with high performance and long-term durability. These challenges need to be overcome for future mobile applications such as aviation. Many approaches to achieving power-specific price and platinum (Pt) loading targets are based on replacing Pt with cheap transition metals or increasing the utilization of the platinum used. Over last two decades, Pt-based alloy cathode materials have been developed with superior catalytic performance for the very sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), enabling a reduction of the overall PEMFC stack costs. However, when the cathode Pt loading goes down to below 0.1 mg/cm2 to meet the cost targets, an as yet unexplained oxygen transport resistance occurs. The cause for the considerable voltage losses at high current density (> 1 A/cm2) is attributed to the insufficient supply of the O2 reactant into the porous cathode catalyst layer (CL), which dramatically affect the specific power density output of the PEMFC. Therefore, it is highly crucial to reduce the local O2 resistance near the catalyst surface to operate the PEMFC at high power density. It is suggested that these transport phenomena will play an even more important role in aviation application due to the differences in altitude (air dilution). In this proposal, the groups of Mehtap Oezaslan and Gabriele Raabe will systematically study the relevant key parameters to increase the O2 permeation and diffusivity through the ionomer film to the catalytically active Pt-Co and Pt-Ni surface. Therefore, it is very important to obtain fundamental insights into the catalyst – ionomer interface by linking the experiment with MD simulations. This knowledge may allow us to predict and ultimately to design and (nano)engineer material properties to overcome the high material PEMFC stack cost and dramatic performance losses for aviation application.

 

Obtaining fundamental insights into the catalyst – ionomer interface by linking the experiment with MD simulations

Objectives

Our multi-dimensional approach obtained from the MD simulations at molecular level to macroscopic porous CL on the cell level will bring new fundamental understanding of these catalyst – ionomer interactions without any loss of the ORR rates to light. Thus, our specific objectives are the following:

 

  • Development of atomistic molecular model to describe the interaction of the ionomer, water, hydronium ions and oxygen with the Pt-Ni and Pt-Co catalyst surface.
  • Correlation between the electrochemical performance and morphology of the Pt-Co and Pt-Ni CL with the ORR rates and operating conditions (temperature, relative humidity (RH), pressure) on 5 cm2 cell level.
  • Relationship between electrochemical diagnostic results (proton and O2 transport resistance) and spatial distribution and thickness of the ionomer film in the porous Pt-Co and Pt-Ni CL using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques.
  • Providing fundamental insight into the underlying molecular processes at the catalyst-ionomer interface such as accumulation of different compounds and the resulting oxygen solubility, diffusivity and distribution within the ionomer film by MD simulations.
  • Identification of the critical parameters to steer the ionomer distribution and thickness within the CL for high O2 permeation to the catalytically active Pt-Co and Pt-Ni surface based on the MD simulations and experimental data.
Project Supervision

Prof. Dr. Mehtap Oezaslan

Technical Electrocatalysis Laboratory,
TU Braunschweig
Institut für Technische Chemie
Franz-Liszt-Str. 35a (PVZ)
38106 Braunschweig
+49 (0)531 391 65792 (Head's Office)
m.oezaslan(at)tu-braunschweig.de

 

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gabriele Raabe

Molecular Thermodynamics
TU Braunschweig
Institut für Thermodynamik
Hans-Sommer-Str. 5
38106 Braunschweig
+49 (0)531 391 2628
G. Raabe(at)tu-Braunschweig.de 

Doctoral Researchers

Aditya Kale, M.Sc.
a.kale(at).tu-braunschweig.de

 

Field of Research: Molecular dynamics
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Institute für Thermodynamik, Molecular Thermodynamics Group

Photo credits on this page

Open Positions
Research
About us
Diversity
Contact 

SE²A on LinkedIn

Linkedin Icon

Contact information

Cluster of Excellence SE²A –
Sustainable and Energy-Efficient Aviation
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Hermann-Blenk-Str. 42
38108 Braunschweig

se2a(at)tu-braunschweig.de
+49 531 391 66661

 

 

© Technische Universität Braunschweig
Legal Notice Privacy Accessibility

TU Braunschweig uses the software Matomo for anonymised web analysis. The data serve to optimise the web offer.
You can find more information in our data protection declaration.