ISSN 1743-3029

THE Volume 2 Issue 1 Feb/Mar 2005

FUEL CELL
Bipolar plates: materials matter
APUs for the trucking industry
High-temperature membranes

REVIEW
The creation of a supply chain

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE ON HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES fcr.iop.org

From innovation
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An IOP Emerging Technology Review

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ISSN 1743-3029

EDITORIAL
Editor Joe McEntee
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joe.mcentee@iop.org Volume 2 Issue 1 February/March 2005
Science & technology reporter
Jonathan Wills
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Belle Dumé, Tami Freeman, Siân
Harris, Hamish Johnston

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THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG 3

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 Also in this section
NEWS & 6 Industrial power recovery
6 German firms think ahead
ANALYSIS 7 Hydrogen fuel and safety
8 Engineered membranes

Transportation

Can the trucking industry clean up its act?

Auxiliary power units based on solid-oxide fuel cells might help it to do so.

“There are two rules in the trucking industry:

the first is don’t change anything, and the sec-
ond is don’t forget rule one.” That wry sound-
bite is from someone who should know,
namely Stephen Lasher, associate principal
and manager of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Unit at TIAX LLC, a collaborative R&D com-
pany based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
“The point is that the trucking industry is tra-
ditionally conservative, but for good reason,”
he told The Fuel Cell Review. “Downtime can
make or break the industry, so reliability and
maintainability of new technologies is critical
to profitability.” Yet despite this conservative
approach to new technologies, Lasher still
believes that long-haul trucks could be among Keep on trucking: the high cost of fuel and the growing number of anti-idling regulations mean
the early adopters of fuel-cell technology. that the trucking industry is slowly accepting the benefits of APUs.
Lasher and TIAX’s Suresh Sriramulu and
Kristine Isherwood have joined forces with The ITS researchers used a modified ADVISOR and that the APU would be used in lieu of engine
researchers at the Institute for Transportation drive-cycle model to estimate fuel savings and idling for 6 h per day, 300 days per year.
Studies (ITS) at the University of California, emission reductions associated with APU adop- While this sounds good in theory, there are
Davis to evaluate the use of fuel cells in auxil-
tion. They first looked at typical auxiliary-power many practical problems to overcome. Not least
iary power units (APUs) in long-haul trucks. requirements of working trucks as a function of of these is the processing of diesel fuel into
TIAX believes that solid-oxide fuel cells load duration. The average power requirement hydrogen to feed the fuel cell. “There are reports
(SOFCs) could reduce the fuel consumption, over a duty cycle was found to be 1.8 kW, with a of limited success in reforming diesel but the
emissions and noise associated with generat- peak power requirement of 4.6 kW. The major- technology is not ready for prime-time yet,”
ing electricity when the truck is stationary. ity of the load is between 2.5 and 3 kW. The Suresh Sriramulu told The Fuel Cell Review. There
Today, most trucks idle the main diesel modified ADVISOR model revealed that a con- are two key challenges surrounding diesel – its
engine to provide “hotel” and auxiliary electri-ceptual SOFC offers lower fuel consumption high sulphur content and the presence of heavy
cal power, a process which is highly inefficientand emissions than an ICE-based APU. hydrocarbons, which are difficult to convert
as well as noisy. Now, thanks to the high cost of The benefits were even greater when com- into hydrogen without the formation of soot.
fuel and the growing number of anti-idling reg- pared to the idling of the main diesel engine. A key problem with desulphurization tech-
ulations, the trucking industry is slowly accept-
The SOFC APU would achieve an 85% reduc- niques is that they are not easily reversible on-
ing the benefits of installing APUs – be they tion in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide board a vehicle. This means that the sorbent
powered by a much smaller (and hence lower emission, and a greater than 99% reduction in system must be replaced on a regular basis,
fuel-consumption) diesel internal combustion the emission of nitrogen oxides and carbon increasing maintenance costs. Replacement
engine (ICE) or, in the longer term, a fuel cell.
monoxide. Other benefits include the potential times are a function of the size of the sorbent
Typical hotel and auxiliary loads within a truckfor approximately 18 dB reduction in cabin bed, however, and could in principle be
include the cabin heating and cooling system, noise and 25 dB reduction in external noise. The designed to coincide with the regular mainte-
coffee maker, refrigerator, electric blanket andinstalled volume of such an SOFC was esti- nance of the truck.
engine cooling fan. Power requirements range mated to be 100 l, which should be acceptable TIAX also identified challenges regarding
from 100 W to 2100 W, meaning that a fuel-cell for most applications. the fuel-cell stack itself, including power den-
APU would need to be in the 5 kW range. TIAX used this data to calculate the time sity, reliability and thermal management.
required to recover the cost of the APU, and con- However, Sriramulu stresses that these chal-
Looking at the numbers cluded that a payback period of 1–2 years could lenges are currently being addressed by the US
As part of the study, TIAX and ITS used several be feasible if the long-term projected installed Department of Energy’s Solid State Energy
linked models to determine the performance, cost of $580/kW is achieved. The calculation Conversion Alliance (SECA), which combines
cost and efficiency of conceptual SOFC APUs. assumes that the cost of diesel is $1.40/gallon, the expertise of government, researchers and

THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG 5

NEWS & ANALYSIS
Cleaner cars
ZAP, the automotive-technology pioneer
based in Sacramento, California, US, recently
signed an exclusive distribution agreement
with Anuvu, also of Sacramento, for the latter’s
patented Power-X hydrogen fuel-cell-engine
systems. The engines will be used to provide a
fuel-cell power option to the electric ZAP
World Car and DaimlerChrysler’s petrol Smart
car, which is distributed by ZAP in the US. An
initial $10 m order for 1100 fuel-cell engines
was confirmed in January. In 2003, Anuvu
started selling vehicles with a fuel cell/battery
hybrid based on the Nissan Frontier pick-up
(pictured). The list price: $99 995.
industry in the development of SOFCs (see The
Fuel Cell Review October/November 2004 p34).
SECA aims to have a working SOFC stack ready
for APU applications by 2007, and a complete
system a few years later. SECA member Delphi,
for example, is developing a 5 kW APU for
long-haul trucks, and Sriramulu says that “they
are making good progress”.
One big reason why TIAX believes that fuel
cells will find early applications in truck APUs
is that the cost:performance requirements are
not as stringent as in other potential applica-
tions. “Both stationary power and vehicle-
power-train applications have very stringent
system-cost requirements,” explained Lasher.
The power-train systems target is about
$30/kW (factory cost), whereas the TIAX study
suggests that the system price could be more
than 10 times higher for APUs. What’s more,
power-train applications require very fast start-
up (less than 30 s), which is currently a challenge
for fuel cells. However, the APU start-up
process could begin before the main engine is
shut down. In addition, the fuel cell could be
kept warm during the operation of the main
engine, making start-up easier.
Despite the conservative nature of the truck-
ing industry, Lasher believes that the haulage
industry is “coming around to the fact that
there will be further regulations regarding
engine idling – and they will have to act”.
Hamish Johnston
6 THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
Government and industry
Germany unites on fuel cells
German fuel-cell companies coordinate their approach and plan for the future.
Germany is, by some margin, Europe’s engine
room when it comes to fuel-cell research,
development and technology transfer. Yet in
terms of industry representation and govern-
ment lobbying, a duplication of effort and
lack of joined-up thinking seems to be ham-
pering progress. The root of the problem is
that Germany has 21 fuel-cell associations,
incorporating more than 300 companies, and
each has its own take on what’s best for the
industry’s near- and long-term development.
“Everyone is speaking very loud [and] doing
lots of good work, but everyone has a slightly
different approach,” said Werner Tillmetz,
head of ZSW, the Centre of Solar Energy and
Hydrogen Research based in Ulm. “[But] the
government would like to speak to one body
in the fuel-cell industry, [so] we have to work
out how we are going to realize this one voice.”
● In December last year, Tillmetz and his col-
leagues set about addressing the situation
Stationary power
A more efficient take
on chlorine production
Energy wasted in the industrial production
of chlorine can be captured by fuel cells and
fed back into the parent process.
Nedstack, a fuel-cell technology company
based in Arnhem, the Netherlands, is working
to develop a niche application for its hydrogen
fuel cells in the production of chlorine. The
project is a joint venture with the chemical
company Akzo Nobel, and is subsidized by the
Dutch government’s “Energy saving through
innovation” scheme.
Chlorine is commonly produced through
the electrolysis of brine, a process that yields
caustic-soda lye and hydrogen as by-products.
Typically, one-third of the power expended in
the electrolysis process is wasted in the pro-
duction of hydrogen. Now, however, Nedstack
and Akzo have come up with an innovative
way of reducing this energy loss: by installing
polymer-electrolyte-membrane (PEM) fuel-
cell stacks that consume all of the hydrogen to
generate electric power. This power is then fed
directly back into the electrolyser, improving
the efficiency of the process by around 20%.
Although the work is still in its early stages,
when they invited representatives from the
German fuel-cell community to come together
to thrash out a common strategy. The outcome
of that effort is a paper, supported by all 21
associations, outlining a broad-based alliance
of German fuel-cell companies. Known as BZB
(Brennstoffzellenbündis Deutschland), the
main function of the alliance is to lobby politi-
cians in Berlin for legislative and financial sup-
port. That support could take the form of state
grants, tax advantages and guaranteed rates for
electricity produced by fuel cells.
“There is no formal structure, there is just an
agreement between all parties,” Tillmetz told
The Fuel Cell Review. “Think about the energy we
are using today, be it crude oil, nuclear or wind
power; there was always a huge impact from
government. Many people ask [fuel cells] to be
competitive with existing incumbent tech-
nologies, but this is impossible [at present]
because these incumbent technologies have
the partners’ long-term goal is to install a
50 MW PEM stack at a full-scale chlorine elec-
trolysis plant. Currently, only a small pilot sys-
tem is running, based on a 20 kW stack.
However, this plant has successfully demon-
strated the principle and later this year a
200 kW module will go live. This second-phase
demonstrator will implement identical tech-
nology to the planned 50 MW project, con-
struction of which is scheduled to start in 2007.
Crunch time will come in mid-2006, when
an investment decision regarding the 50 MW
installation will be made, based largely on the
results of the second-phase demonstrator. The
key metrics are cost, long-term efficiency and
durability. “The target for cost is 7250 per kilo-
watt,” explained Erik Middelman, CEO of
Nedstack. He believes that reductions in mate-
rial costs and an increase in production vol-
umes at Nedstack make that target achievable
by 2007. System-reliability requirements for
full-scale application are in excess of 40 000 h.
So far, stacks have failed to exceed 25 000 h of
operation, but Middelman is again confident
that improvements in raw materials and con-
struction will see longevity extended.
If it does go ahead, the 50 MW system will use
2000 fuel-cell stacks. With five Akzo chlorine
plants in the Netherlands and hundreds of elec-
trolysis plants worldwide, Nedstack may have
hit on a lucrative niche for its fuel-cell products.
Jonathan Wills

been developed through strong governmental
support and legislation.”
BZB points to countries such as Japan, the
US, Canada and China, where coordinated
efforts at a government level are pushing fuel
cells through to commercial introduction.
Japan, in particular, has a well defined roadmap
for the mass-introduction of fuel cells. By 2010,
it plans to install stationary plants with a total
power of 2.1 GW, as well as put 50 000 fuel-cell
vehicles on the road. If appropriate political
support is forthcoming, BZB claims that fuel-
cell plants with a total capacity of 15 MW a year
could be built in Germany from 2006, rising to
1.3 GW by 2015.
For further information about BZB, contact
Johannes Schiel at johannes.schiel@evdma.org.
Jonathan Wills
Hydrogen safety
Why a bad odour can be good
Mixing hydrogen fuel with pungent additives could improve safety. But will it impair performance?
Scientists at the Japan Automobile Research
Institute (JARI) in Tsukuba have identified
three strong-smelling hydrocarbon com-
pounds that could be used as additives in
hydrogen fuel, enabling its detection by smell.
Their work, which is attracting interest from
several leading car manufacturers, could one
day help to ease public concerns over the safety
of hydrogen fuel and fuel-cell vehicles.
The JARI team is researching hydrogen addi-
tives by testing their effects on fuel-cell per-
formance, with chemicals selected on the basis
of properties such as pungency, boiling point
and toxicity. To date, the researchers have eval-
uated 26 chemical additives: 10 sulphurous
compounds commonly added to natural gas
and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); and 16 non-
sulphurous compounds.
Based on the current legislation for natural
gas in Japan, the estimated legal concentra-
tion (ELC) of odorant was calculated for addi-
tives in hydrogen fuel. The performance of a
JARI standard fuel cell was then carefully
monitored while hydrogen containing vari-
ous additives at ELC was used as fuel. All of the
sulphurous chemicals were quickly elimi-
nated, as the sulphur was found to poison the
electrode catalysts and caused rapid deterio-
ration in performance. Eight compounds
were found to have very little or no effect on
fuel-cell performance at ELC, but three of
these odorants had to be ruled out because of
their tendency to condense at high pressures
(for example, in storage cylinders).
Higher-concentration tests on the five
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Investing in Ontario
The Ontario provincial government has
announced two technology initiatives that will
benefit Canada’s burgeoning fuel-cell industry:
a new Ontario centre of excellence (OCE) for
energy and a dedicated fuel-cell innovation
programme. In both cases, the focus will be on
commercialization, moving products through
to the manufacturing stage and linking small
and medium-sized enterprises with the research
community and venture capital.
The OCE will see C$8 m ($6.5 m) in
government investment over four years and
will build on the success of the province’s four
established OCEs (in photonics, information
Performance monitoring: JARI’s standard
proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell was used
in the evaluation of 26 hydrogen additives.
remaining compounds showed that all would
be detrimental to fuel-cell performance if
allowed to accumulate in the system. However,
three compounds stood out above the others:
2,3-butanedione; ethyl isobutyrate; and 5-eth-
ylidene-2-norbornene. For all of these addi-
tives, fuel-cell performance returned to
normal once their concentration in the feed
fuel was reduced. According to JARI, the best
of the three is ethyl isobutyrate, which has a
strong, sweet smell. However, the scientists
acknowledge that in practical applications it
may be more useful to select an unpleasant-
smelling additive (such as 2,3 butanedione or
technology, earth and space technology and
materials/ manufacturing), which attracted a
combined C$24 m in private investment last
year alone. The fuel-cell innovation
programme will benefit from a further C$3 m
in annual funding, specifically for fuel-cell R&D
programmes through 2007/8.
The fuel-cell programme will also foster links
with the US states of New York, Ohio and
Michigan where state governments are
providing aggressive support for hydrogen and
fuel-cell activities.
● Further information can be found at www.fuel-
cells.2ontario.com and www.oce-ontario.org.
The sense of smell
Whichever way you look at it, hydrogen is a
tricky gas to deal with. It’s highly volatile and
flammable; it can explode when mixed with air
in certain concentrations; and it also leaks
through small orifices at a faster rate than any
other gas – 2.8 times faster than methane and
3.3 times faster than air.
Like natural gas and LPG, pure hydrogen is
odourless. However, legislation requires the
addition of odorous chemicals to natural gas
and LPG to allow their detection by smell at
concentrations below combustible levels.
Although no equivalent legislation yet exists
for hydrogen fuels, it seems likely that odorous
additives will become a requirement – if only
to provide an additional layer of safety.
“As far as we know,” said JARI researcher
Shogo Watanabe, “there aren’t any plans to
implement legislation regarding the odour of
hydrogen fuel as yet, [largely] because there is
no suitable odorant for fuel-cell applications.
However, the requirement is clear.”
5-ethylidene-2-norbornene).
Further work at JARI will evaluate the diffu-
sion properties of the additives, as well as issues
such as cost and availability. In the long term,
JARI’s goal is to “improve the safety of handling
hydrogen and to pave the way for the wide-
spread use of fuel-cell vehicles”.
Jonathan Wills
7
NEWS & ANALYSIS
Components
It’s time to turn up the heat
A heat-resistant polymer membrane enhances the performance of reformate-based fuel cells.
On 22 January, the former German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl presented the 25th Innovation
Award for German Industry to a Frankurt/Main
start-up called PEMEAS Fuel Cell Technologies.
The significance of the award is twofold. First,
it highlights the importance that Europe’s
biggest economy attaches to fuel cells and sus-
tainable technologies in general. Second, it rec-
ognizes the progress that PEMEAS is making
towards its stated vision “to become a market
leader in the manufacture and sale of mem-
brane–electrode assemblies (MEAs) for high-
temperature polymer-electrolyte-membrane
(PEM) fuel cells”.
Although PEMEAS is a start-up, the business
can trace its origins back more than 10 years to
the fuel-cell activities of the former Hoechst
Group. That legacy has enabled the company,
which now numbers 40 staff, to assemble a
comprehensive portfolio of intellectual prop-
erty (110 patents and patent applications). It
also claims to be the only commercial supplier
of an MEA that can operate at temperatures of
up to 200 °C. The product in question, the
Celtec-P MEA, is optimized for use in reform-
ate-based fuel cells – systems that incorporate
an integrated reforming unit so that they can
run on fuels other than pure hydrogen. In this
regard, methanol or natural gas are easy to
store, easy to transport and have a high energy
density in the liquid state.
Hot stuff
There’s a downside to traditional reformate-
based PEM fuel cells: the reformation process
generates large amounts of CO (of the order of
30 000 ppm), which few MEAs can handle.
Because the CO poisons the platinum catalyst,
a complicated gas-cleaning process is required,
adding to the component count and cost. The
Celtec-P looks like an elegant design fix. The
MEA can tolerate CO concentrations of up to
5% with only a 5% reduction in power per-
formance compared to that of a clean gas refer-
ence. Conventional PEM fuel cells, which
require operating temperatures of less than
100 °C, might be able to handle CO levels of
0.005% with a reduction in performance of
15% compared to clean gases (or CO levels of
up to 0.01% CO if the designers are prepared to
take a performance penalty of 30%).
The numbers speak for themselves. Celtec-P
increases the CO tolerance of the MEA assem-
bly by almost three orders of magnitude. That
8 THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
Window of opportunity: PEMEAS says that its
Celtec-P MEA is currently being evaluated by a
number of partner companies, including Plug
Power and Motorola.
performance enhancement is made possible
because the MEA can operate at temperatures
of up to 200 °C. The higher-temperature regime
speeds up desorption of CO from the surface of
the platinum catalyst, which in turn minimizes
any disruption to the oxidation–reduction
reactions going on in the cell.
“Celtec contains the same basic catalyst
materials as conventional fuel cells, so the
[enhanced] CO tolerance of MEAs is exclu-
sively due to this temperature effect,” explained
Carsten Henschel, director of market develop-
ment for PEMEAS. It’s also worth noting that
the water-management system can be elimi-
nated or simplified considerably as humidifi-
cation of the reaction gas is not required.
In conventional PEM MEAs, the upper limit
on operating temperature is fixed at close to
100 °C – because liquid water supports the
ionic conductivity of the membrane. The
Celtec-P MEA gets round this problem thanks
to a membrane that is based on the heat-resist-
ant polymer polybenzimidazole, while phos-
phoric acid provides the ionic conductivity.
According to Henschel, the Celtec-P MEA can
achieve a power density of more than
200 mW/cm2 using reformate fuel with a CO
concentration of 2000 ppm. The MEA has also
been tested for more than 11 000 h with a
degradation rate of less than 6 µV/h. To date,
the main concern has centred around possible
leakage of phosphoric acid, though Henschel
told The Fuel Cell Review that the acid evapora-
tion rate has been measured in the laboratories
of both PEMEAS and one of its customers.
These studies predict a lifetime of more than
40 000 h for the MEAs.
Routes to market
PEMEAS was formed in April last year when
parent company Celanese, the international
chemicals group, decided to spin off its fuel-cell
activities. With backing from Celanese and a
consortium of blue-chip investors, PEMEAS
has so far secured financing of around t20 m.
The money has been used to good effect, with
Celtec-P technology already being evaluated by
customers and incorporated into prototypes.
In November, for example, Plug Power of the
US reported promising results for a stationary-
power generation system based on the Celtec-P
MEA. At the same time, PEMEAS is pushing its
high-temperature MEA for applications in
micro fuel cells for portable electronic devices.
The company has a long-standing partnership
with US mobile-phone maker Motorola, which
is evaluating prototype reformed-methanol
fuel cells based on Celtec-P.
In the long term, PEMEAS plans to com-
mercialize other advanced membranes and
MEA product lines. Its latest membrane offer-
ing, the Celtec-V, is based on the same polymer
as Celtec-P but uses an alternative electrolyte
to enable operation between 40 and 160 °C.
This broad temperature range could prove
attractive to the automotive industry. For now,
though, Celtec-V is targeted at direct-
methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) applications.
Henschel claims that several DMFC develop-
ment companies and research teams are test-
ing the MEA and that initial results look
encouraging. “Celtec-V technology can be
operated at a broad range of methanol con-
centrations,” he added. “It shows a very low
methanol cross-over and it has already
achieved the performance of standard DMFC
MEAs, even with a non-optimized electrode.”
Siân Harris
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R&D FOCUS
Highlights of cutting-edge research, development and innovation.
Nanotubes yield
‘solar hydrogen’
Philadelphia, PA: Researchers
around the world have been
attempting to harness solar power
to cleave water molecules. The aim
is to generate hydrogen “for free”
with no impact on the environ-
ment – a big step towards conceiv-
ing a viable hydrogen economy.
Now, a team from Pennsylvania
State University in the US has con-
structed a material from titania
(TiO2) nanotubes that they claim is
more than 90% efficient at har-
nessing the UV fraction of solar
radiation, and 6.8% efficient at
extracting hydrogen from water.
The conversion efficiency is the
highest recorded for a titania-
based photoelectrochemical cell,
according to a paper published in
Nano Letters (2005 5 191).
The key to making titania nano-
tubes that efficiently harness solar
energy is controlling the thickness
of the nanotube walls. Nanotubes
224 nm long with 34 nm-thick
walls were found to have a quan-
tum absorption efficiency three
times that of 120 nm-long nan-
otubes with 9 nm-thick walls.
Automotive fuel cells are put through their paces
Belfort, France: In the two years
since it was established, France’s
National Fuel Cell Test Platform for
Automotive Applications has
notched up an impressive list of
heavyweight clients, including
domestic car makers Peugeot and
Renault and the likes of Delphi and
Air Liquide from further down the
supply chain. Yet the facility, located
at the University of Technology
Belfort Montbéliard (UTBM), is
keen to stress its inclusive creden-
tials, with a remit that extends from
large-scale car manufacturers to
small independent companies and
university research groups.
The test platform boasts the abil-
ity to “completely replicate the envi-
ronment of a fuel cell in a car”
claims Daniel Hissel, an associate
professor of UTBM and senior
researcher at the platform. The facil-
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
Steel: the real deal for SOFCs
Espoo, Finland: Scientists at the
Technical Research Centre of
Finland (VTT) have shown that
interconnectors for solid-oxide
fuel-cell (SOFC) stacks can deliver
satisfactory oxidation resistance
and electrical performance when
fabricated from commonly avail-
able standard-steel alloys. Although
the work is in its early stages, VTT
research scientist Juha Veivo and
team believe that steel could help to
drive down the cost of prototype
SOFC stacks and systems.
As part of its initial programme,
VTT evaluated a hydrogen-fuelled
SOFC constructed from a range of
dedicated interconnector steels, as
well as employing interconnectors
fabricated from standard steels. In
the trials, a Finnish grade of ferritic
steel performed surprisingly well
compared to new high-chromium
steels from Germany and Japan.
One of the main problems facing
SOFCs is production costs. And
although costs can be expected to
fall with increasing volumes, poor
durability and short lifespan need
to be addressed in critical parts of
Shake it up: the vibration table can
support 3D performance analysis.
ity includes three fuel-cell testing
laboratories: one lab dedicated to
systems operating below 10 kW,
and the other two for peak powers
of up to 200 kW. Users can also take
advantage of facilities for evaluat-
ing pressurized hydrogen storage
and the changing electrical loads of
fuel-cell vehicles. In addition, there
Solid prospects: metallic SOFC
interconnectors could help to
reduce fabrication costs as well
as improve performance.
the cells. On top of that, high oper-
ating temperatures (800–1100 °C)
necessitate the use of expensive
ceramic interconnectors between
cells in SOFC stacks – which, apart
from being costly, are also brittle
and difficult to engineer.
Recently, however, new SOFC
types have emerged that can oper-
ate at reduced temperatures
(650–750 °C). These intermediate-
temperature designs open up the
possibility of employing cheap steel
materials in cell-stack intercon-
is a vibration-testing facility that can
generate frequencies of vibration in
three dimensions between 5Hz and
2 kHz. The offering is completed by
a climatic chamber that can cycle
the environmental temperature
between –45 and 130 °C.
In short, says Hissel, the French
test platform offers conditions
beyond the extremes that might be
encountered in even the most exact-
ing field demonstrations – and at a
fraction of the cost needed to put
prototype fuel-cell vehicles on the
road. The platform is particularly
useful for small companies and
research groups that lack the
resources to construct such a test
facility themselves.
The centre is jointly managed by
the Laboratory of Electrical and
Engineering Systems (L2ES) from
UTBM and the University of
nectors. In addition to lower cost
and greater ease of fabrication,
“metallic materials allow much
more freedom in design”, explained
Veivo. “Typically, ceramic inter-
connectors were sintered directly
to the cell, but steel interconnectors
can be assembled separately and
made more easily to satisfy other
functions such as structural sup-
port and gas flow-channelling.”
So what’s the next step for the
VTT team? “It would generally be
an advantage to reduce [SOFC
operation] temperature further
from the point of view of strength
and oxidation resistance of the
interconnector materials,” said
Veivo. “Development of new steels
for this purpose is of some interest
to manage contact resistance,
harmful element diffusion into the
ceramic parts and thermoelastic
compatibility with the cell [elec-
trode and electrolyte] ceramics”.
VTT is a partner in the European
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology
Platform and is involved in several
projects relating to SOFCs. For
details, visit www.HFPeurope.org.
Franche-Comté, and the National
Technological Research Centre
(CNRT-INEVA). L2ES manages the
scientific and technological aspects
of the platform while CNRT-INEVA
is responsible for the promotion of
the platform and the development
of partnerships between industries
and universities.
So how do prospective cus-
tomers gain access to the facility? “If
a company wants to test here, there
are two possibilities,” explained
Hissel. “They can either rent part of
the platform for the duration of the
tests, or make a research contract,
in which case the company simply
provides the fuel cell and tests will
be carried out by staff at the centre.”
For more information, visit the
L2ES website at http://l2es.utbm.fr
or contact Daniel Hissel via e-mail
at daniel.hissel@utbm.fr.
11
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PATENTS
The pick of the latest international patent applications.
Fuel cells: the best a man can get?
Gillette, the US manufacturer of shaving products and disposable
goods, has developed a hybrid power supply that incorporates a fuel
cell, a rechargeable battery and balancing electronics to ensure a
constant current discharge (WO 2005/011045). The set-up employs a
common interface that connects on one side with a fuel cartridge
(containing methanol, for example), an external battery or a mains
power adapter. Internally, a switching-type DC/DC boost-type
converter channels electrical power from the fuel cell or external
battery to a rechargeable cell. Operation of the converter is
controlled, in part, by a feedback loop incorporating a fuel-cell-
current sensor/comparator. If commercialized, it seems likely that
the power supply will find applications in electric razors and other
portable electronic equipment.
Hydride storage – two tanks better than one
The problems associated with the storage and supply of hydrogen
for automotive applications must be addressed if a functioning
hydrogen economy is to move from vision to reality. In a new take
on the problem, engineers at Johnson Matthey, UK, have come up
with a hybrid hydrogen-storage system comprising two separate
storage tanks, both containing solid-state hydrogen-storage
materials (WO 2005/012164). The first tank contains an AB5 type
hydride material which can be activated to release hydrogen at a
relatively low temperature. The second tank contains an MgH2 type
material, which has a much higher storage capacity but also a higher
activation temperature (>300 °C). At start-up, a portion of the
hydrogen released from the first tank is used to activate hydrogen
release from the second tank, which is then made available to a fuel
cell or combustion engine.
Catalytic interconnector boosts SOFCs
Engineers from Franklin Fuel
Cells, US, have designed an
interconnector with catalytic
reforming properties for solid-
oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The
component is grooved to allow
cathode gas/liquid flow and coated with a
interconnect catalyst to assist in the
electrolyte reformation of hydrocarbon
anode
catalyst molecules (WO 2005/011019).
The invention would give SOFCs
the ability to function directly on higher hydrocarbon fuels.
Furthermore, the invention would give SOFCs improved
temperature management, since the endothermic reformation
process will cool sections of the fuel cell, giving a more uniform
overall temperature distribution.
Defibrillators given the shock treatment
Medtronic Physio-Control Corporation, US, has designed a fuel-cell
power system for portable external defibrillators (WO 2004/108213).
In the design, the fuel cell powers a processor and user interface as well
as charging an energy-storage circuit (such as a capacitor) that can be
discharged through the patient as a defibrillation shock. Currently,
portable external defibrillators rely on batteries, which often have a
limited shelf-life and can require frequent conditioning cycles.
Replacing batteries with fuel cells would result in a more reliable
defibrillator requiring less routine maintenance, says Medtronic.
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
device circuits
fuel cell
spring-loaded
terminal contacts
fuel
delivery
interconnect port
Waste gases can generate useful energy
A US collaboration involving the Ford Motor Company and the
Detroit Edison Company has developed a technique for converting
volatile organic compounds into electrical energy
(WO 2005/007567). The invention relates to a method and device that
concentrates a dilute hydrocarbon gas using a concentrator into a
gaseous or liquid concentrated fuel. The concentrated fuel is then
converted into a reformate using a reformer and made into energy by
means of an energy-conversion device. Various agricultural,
manufacturing and contamination-remediation processes produce a
stream of low-concentration hydrocarbon gas as an unwanted
by-product. Currently, these waste products are flared or burned,
which means that all of the energy they contain is lost.
Fullerenes enhance electrolyte properties
Scientists at the Materials and Electrochemical Research Corporation
in the US have found that the addition of small amounts of fullerene
materials to polymer electrolytes can improve their low-relative-
humidity proton-conductivity properties (WO2004/112099). The
invention could help to overcome some of the problems associated
with existing polymer electrolytes, in particular with respect to their
low operating-temperature range.
Iron chemistry powers up biofuel cells
The bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferroxidans is the key to a new biofuel cell
designed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, Canada
(WO 2005/001981). The fuel cell is based on the cathodic reduction of
ferric to ferrous ions with a fuel such as hydrogen. Regeneration of ferric
ions is achieved by bacteria in a bioreactor. Generation of electrical
energy is coupled with the consumption of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and its transfer into microbial cells.
Imides have potential for hydrogen storage
General Motors is one of several leading car makers looking to
develop practical solid-state hydrogen-storage materials for on-board
vehicle applications. Among other materials, the US manufacturer is
investigating metal-imide compounds which readily absorb
hydrogen to form metal-amide compounds (WO2005/005310).
Amides with suitably chosen metal cations enable the liberation of
hydrogen upon gentle heating. One of the systems under
consideration is lithium imide (Li2NH), which absorbs hydrogen to
yield lithium amide (LiNH2) and lithium hydride (LiH). In preliminary
experiments, hydrogen equivalent to 6.5% by weight has been
liberated from a mixture of lithium imide and hydride.
13
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 FEATURE: COMPONENTS

Bipolar plates: the lungs

of the PEM fuel cell
D AN B RETT AND N IGEL B RANDON
Advances in materials and design are delivering low-cost, high-performance bipolar plates for polymer-electrolyte
fuel cells. Indeed, improvements in bipolar-plate technology could yield the next big leap in fuel-cell performance.

MEMBRANE AND CATALYST development typically take centre-

stage in any discussion of fuel-cell technology, so much so that 1. Going with the flow
relatively little attention has been paid in the published litera-
ture to another vital fuel-cell component, the bipolar plate. ... Stack ...
Now, however, advances in engineering materials and sophis- bipolar membrane gas-diffusion
anode layer (GDL)
ticated flow-field designs are set to change all that, suggesting plate cathode
that pioneering work on bipolar plates may well bring about
e– e–
the next significant improvement in fuel-cell performance by H+
lowering the size, weight and cost of stacks.
The bipolar plate (also referred to as the flow-field plate, e– e–
H+
duplex electrode, current collector, convection plate or inter-
connect) is one of the fundamental building blocks of fuel-cell e– e–
operation. It must carry fuel and air to the respective electrodes H+

and disperse the reactants in an even and controlled manner e– e–

while removing excess product water – it is for this reason that H+
it’s often referred to as the “lung” of the fuel cell. It must also
conduct electronic current from each electrode; guarantee membrane–electrode
assembly (MEA)
complete separation of air and fuel; provide mechanical sup-
port and strength to the membrane–electrode assembly Typical bipolar plate flow-field
(MEA); handle transmission of seal stresses; incorporate inter- integrated gasket positioning
nal manifolds; and help moderate the stack temperature. grooves hole
Figure 1 shows how bipolar plates and MEAs are assembled reactant
manifold
to form the fuel-cell stack and describes the main features of a coolant
manifold
typical plate. The flow channels are located in the central region opposite electrode
reactant manifold
of the plate, in the area that contacts the active catalyst of the
anode and cathode. The open channels are typically of the order
of 1 mm in diameter and depth, although this can vary signifi- opposite electrode
cantly depending on the size, design and number of channels in exhaust manifold
channel
the plate. The areas of the flow-field that make direct contact
exhaust manifold
with the gas-diffusion layer (GDL) are called “lands”, and it is at land
these points that current flows to and from the MEA electrodes.
There are various flow-field designs aimed at improving factors Top: position of the MEA and bipolar plate within a fuel-cell stack.
such as reactant transport to the catalyst, removal of product Bottom: the main features of a typical bipolar-plate flow-field.
water, internal hydration, plate strength and back pressure, The open channels are typically of the order of 1 mm in diameter
among other things. In the corners of the plate are manifolds and depth, although this can vary significantly depending on the
that run through the length of the stack and carry reactant and size, design and number of channels in the plate. There are various
product to and from each bipolar plate, as well as taking water flow-field designs, all aimed at improving factors such as reactant
to cooling plates (positioned intermittently throughout the transport to the catalyst, removal of product water, internal
stack). In addition, features such as positioning holes and inte- hydration, plate strength and back pressure.
grated gasket grooves are often present.

THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG 15

COMPONENTS
2. Bipolar plates: the main players
Carbon–carbon
Porvair Fuel Cells
ORNL
Composites
Carbon–polymer
Thermoplastic (injection mould) Thermoset (compression mould)
DuPont Fuel Cells BMC Inc.
Liquid-crystal Entegris
ICM Plastics polymer
Quantum Composites (injection moulded) Fraunhofer ICT
Schunk GTI
Ticona (Celanese) H2 ECOnomy
SGL Carbon DuPont Fuel Cells
ZBT Huntsman
(Vantico)
Bipolar plates are a significant factor in determining the
gravimetric and volumetric power density of a fuel cell, typi-
cally accounting for more than 80% of the weight of a stack and
almost all of the volume. Consequently, if component design-
ers can reduce the weight of the plates they can remove some
of the performance burden from other components (by reduc-
ing the amount of platinum required in the MEA, for instance).
At the same time, the price of the raw material and the often
complex processing that goes into manufacturing bipolar
plates makes them one of the most expensive parts of the fuel
cell.1 Projections range from 12% to 68% of the total stack cost,
though it is generally accepted that bipolar plates should
amount to no more than 33% of cell cost for automotive appli-
cations (typically less than $10/kW or approximately $2 per
plate). For component developers, the challenge is therefore to
reduce the weight, size and cost of the bipolar plate while main-
taining the desired properties for high-performance operation.
Which material?
The multiple roles of the bipolar plate and the challenging envi-
ronment in which it operates means that the material from
which it is made must possess a particular set of properties.2 The
ideal material should combine the following characteristics:
● High electrical conductivity Especially in the through-plane
direction; a target of over 100 S/cm has been set by the US
Department of Energy (DOE).
● Low contact resistance with the GDL Depending on the plate
material and thickness, the contact resistance with the GDL
can dwarf the resistance of the plate itself.
● Good thermal conductivity Efficient removal of heat from the
electrodes is vital for maintaining an even temperature
distribution and avoiding hotspots.
● Thermal stability The trend towards higher-temperature
operation (as high as 200 ºC) places constraints on certain
carbon–polymer composites.
● Gas impermeability To avoid potentially dangerous and
performance-degrading leaks.
16
Graphite Metallic
(resin or pyrolytic impregnation) (stainless steel, aluminium, nickel alloy, titanium alloy)
POCO Graphite DANA
SGL Carbon Gas Technology Institute
Flexible graphite GenCell Corp.
GrafTech (GRAFCELL) Sumitometals
Nuvera
Ulbrich
Bipolar plate
fabrication
Forming Metallic coatings/
ICM Plastics C A Lawton (compression moulding) treatment
Nedstack Century Engineering (RingExtruder for injection moulding) INEOS Chlor Ltd.
Plenco Precision Micro (stamping, photochemical machining) (PEMcoat)
Quantum Metro Mold & Design (machining and mould design) TIMCAL
Composites Tech-Etch (photo etching) (TIMREX LB)
Schunk FCCI (machining and moulding) ORNL/NREL
SGL Carbon Morgan Fuel Cells (ElectroEtch) (Thermal nitridation)
● High mechanical strength So as to be physically robust and
support the MEA.
● Corrosion resistance Bipolar plates operate in a warm, damp
environment while simultaneously exposed to air and fuel
over a range of electrical potentials (ideal conditions for
corrosion to occur).
● Resistance to ion-leaching If metal ions are released from the
plate they can displace protons in the membrane and lower
the ionic conductivity.
● Thin and lightweight proportions While still accommodating
the flow channels and maintaining mechanical stability.
● Low cost and ease of manufacturing.
● Environmentally benign Recyclability is a particular concern.
These requirements are a challenge for any class of material,
and none fits the profile exactly. The relative merits of each are
summarized in table 1, with examples of their physical param-
eters shown in table 2. A summary of the main bipolar-plate
materials developers is provided in figure 2.
Graphite
Bipolar plates have traditionally been made from graphitic car-
bon impregnated with a resin or subject to pyrolytic impregna-
tion (a thermal treatment that seals the pores to a depth of ~7 µm
into the surface of the graphite) to render them gas-imperme-
able.3 Such materials, available from the likes of POCO Graphite
(Texas, US) and SGL Carbon (Germany), offer high electronic
and thermal conductivities, low contact resistance, corrosion
resistance and ease of machining. If pyrolytic impregnation is
used, they can operate at temperatures as high as 450 °C; how-
ever, resin-impregnated graphite is limited to 150 °C. Although
still used in some state-of-the-art stacks and for prototyping
flow-field designs, standard graphite plates are being super-
seded by various metallic and carbon composites – materials
that are more robust, thinner and less expensive to manufacture.
On the other hand, flexible graphite is now being used exten-
sively. For example, GRAFCELL from GraphTech (Ohio, US) is a
flexible graphite bipolar plate found in the majority of fuel-cell
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG

3. Graphite versus metallic
(a)
19.4 kg 35.2 kg
coated aluminium graphite
electrode membrane gasket
end-plate current collector bipolar plate
(b) Graphite/moulded plate
1.5 mm
stamped metal plate
0.5 mm
0.1 mm
The big benefit of metallic bipolar plates is that they make for a
smaller and lighter fuel-cell stack than graphite plates. Top:
weight comparison of a 33 kW stack using coated aluminium
and graphite bipolar plates. Bottom: thickness comparison of a
graphite or moulded plate and a stamped metal plate.
vehicles. Flexible graphite is made by “expanding” natural
graphite with the help of an intercalating agent and heat treat-
ment – a process that increases the spacing between the planes
of the graphite structure by as much as 80 times. The expanded
form is then compressed to the desired density and pressed to
form the bipolar plate. Flexible graphite meets basic cost targets
and has the advantage of very low contact resistance and density
(typically 1 g/cm3). It also has excellent sealing characteristics.
The downside is that it is mechanically weaker than other bipo-
lar-plate materials and has a relatively high gas permeability.
Metallic
Metallic bipolar plates, used by stack manufacturers such as De
Nora (Italy) and Dana Corporation (Ohio, US), have the generic
advantages of high electrical conductivity and gas imperme-
ability.4 They are also cheaper than graphite in the quantities
required. Probably the most important benefit, though, is that
the resultant stack can be smaller and lighter than one made
from graphite. This is because it is possible to use very thin
sheets of metal (as thin as 100 µm) to separate the reactants
while still maintaining sufficient strength. Intelligent Energy
(UK) has demonstrated outstanding power densities of over
2.5 kW/l using metallic bipolar plates with a thickness of
0.5 mm. Figure 3 compares the mass of a 33 kW stack made
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
COMPONENTS
from graphite and metallic bipolar plates and shows how
pressed metal reduces the overall plate thickness.5
The main disadvantage of metallic plates is that they tend to
corrode in the hostile fuel-cell environment. This is detrimen-
tal to performance for several reasons: (i) surface oxide forma-
tion significantly increases the contact resistance between the
plate and the GDL (although the surface oxide can, in itself, act
to prevent further corrosion); (ii) the corrosion process
changes the morphology of the surface (potentially reducing
the contact area with the GDL); and (iii) corrosion leads to the
release of cations that degrade membrane performance.6
The bulk resistance of metallic bipolar plates is very low and
not the limiting factor in determining the material’s suitability,
especially since metallic plates can be made so thin. Instead,
cost, corrosion resistance, ease of manufacture and contact
resistance are the key performance metrics. Although various
metals have been evaluated, and many qualify in terms of
material properties, only a relatively small number meet cost
targets. The four with the most potential are:
● Aluminium Has the advantages of low density, low cost and the
fact that it is easily formed. However, its corrosion resistance is
a result of a passivating oxide film that reduces surface
conductivity to such an extent as to disqualify aluminium as a
plate material unless treated with a suitable coating.
● Titanium Has a low density and, like aluminium, exhibits
excellent corrosion resistance due to an insulating oxide film.
It also has the advantage of being able to diffusion-bond with
itself, allowing complicated flow-field designs to be
constructed by overlaying several layers. The drawback is that
titanium is more expensive than aluminium and stainless
steel (though the prohibitive pricing may be addressed by a
technique known as electrodeoxidation, currently being
developed by QinetiQ in the UK).
● Nickel Does not form a protective oxide layer and in the
environment of a fuel cell would corrode severely. Nickel
must be alloyed with chromium or subjected to surface
treatment to make it a feasible choice.
● Stainless-steel alloys Are a common low-cost class of metal
combining high strength and corrosion resistance. The
environment within a fuel cell is very challenging, however,
and corrosion is still a problem for low-chromium stainless
steels. Despite this, unmodified stainless steels have yielded
promising results from certain alloys. For example, the Gas
Technology Institute (Illinois, US) has reported more than
20 000 h of operation from its patented austenitic alloy. This
metal has no coating, a corrosion rate of less than the US DoE
target (<16 µA/cm2), and only 10% greater performance loss
compared with graphite. Meanwhile, the suitability of
different austenitic stainless-steel alloys has been investigated
at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL,
Colorado, US).7 Decreased contact resistance and corrosion
current are both observed for steels with increasing Cr
content; SS349 is cited as a particularly promising alloy.
Generally speaking, the use of uncoated stainless steel can be
considered a feasible option, especially if direct contact with
the polymer membrane can be avoided and the water in the sys-
17
COMPONENTS
Table 1. Relative merits of bipolar-plate materials
Graphite
Advantages ● High electrical conductivity
● Corrosion-resistant
● Low contact resistance with GDL
● Good prototyping material
● High-temperature operation for pyrolytic
impregnation (450 °C), ca. 150° for resin
impregnation
Disadvantages ● Flow-field machining required (expensive)
● Material is expensive
● Permeable to hydrogen (requires impregnation)
● Brittle
● Must be made thick
Processing ● Computerized numerical control (CNC) milling
options
tem is pure and remains close to pH neutral. The problem is that
high-chromium steel is expensive, which means that adopting
a metal-coating strategy promises to be more cost-effective. In
this regard, work is under way to develop low-cost protective
coatings that avoid ion leaching, prevent corrosion, improve
contact resistance and extend the lifetime of metal plates.
Coatings for metallic bipolar plates
To overcome the disadvantages of metallic bipolar plates, vari-
ous coating and surface treatments have been proposed. The
ideal properties should be:
● High electrical conductivity and low contact resistance with
the GDL.
● Corrosion resistance.
● Strong adherence to the metal substrate and resistance to
cracking, blistering and pinhole formation.
● Resistance to ion leaching from the metal into the membrane.
● Similar thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) to the
underlying metal to avoid delamination.
● Low cost and simple to apply to the metal plate.
Precious metals have been trialled as coatings for steel and alu-
minium. Despite its expense, gold with a thickness of less than
2 µm coated on aluminium is claimed by some researchers to be
an economically feasible alternative to graphite, although still
relatively expensive.5 The main problem with metallic coatings
on metal plates is delamination of the layer caused by a mismatch
in TEC. One way to buffer this disparity is to build up a number of
layers of different metals to ensure a gradation of TEC.
18
Metallic Coated metallic
● High electrical conductivity ● As for metallic
● High thermal conductivity
● High strength
● High-temperature operation
● Gas-impermeable
● Thin plates
● Amenable to a range of processing and forming
techniques
● Easily recyclable
● Prone to corrosion ● Extra processing and
● Form insulating oxides (increased contact resistance) expense
● Ion leaching (cations degrade membrane performance)
● Corrosion-resistant metals and alloys are expensive
● Corrosion-resistant coating may be necessary
● CNC milling ● Depends on nature of
● Stamping/embossing coating and order in
● Foaming which coating is applied
● Die forging
● Etching
Note: the range of forming methods applicable depends
on the metal and size of plate
In itself, coating an active metal with a more noble metal is a
dubious strategy for corrosion protection. If both metals are
exposed to an electrolyte (acidic water in the fuel cell) at pinholes
and defects in the protecting layer, the metal further down the
electrochemical series will be oxidized and dissolve. This process
can be avoided by having a faultless layer (difficult to achieve in
practice) or by reducing the driving force of the reaction by using
metals close to each other in the electrochemical series. The latter
has been investigated by workers at Physical Sciences Inc.
(Massachusetts, US), who used a number of coatings ranging in
electrochemical series from the active substrate to that of car-
bon.5 However, as with the TEC buffering technique, this adds to
the material and processing cost of the coating.
Elsewhere, a team from INRS-Energie et Matériaux and
McGill University in Canada has reported a method of deposit-
ing a graphitic protective coating directly onto stainless steel.8
The coating is composed of three layers, the middle being a
spray-coated graphite, with the top and bottom layers compris-
ing a high-carbon-content polymer which upon pyrolysis at
750 ºC forms a dense 70–100 µm-thick coating with electrical-
and corrosion-resistance properties similar to that of graphite.
In Europe, TIMCAL Graphite & Carbon (Switzerland) is using
its TIMREX range of aqueous-based graphite dispersions to pro-
vide an easily applied coating for metallic plates. The company
claims these coatings adhere strongly to the substrate with high
electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance.
Another variation on the theme is the growth of nitrides on
certain metals to impart high electrical conductivity and cor-
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG

Table 1. Relative merits of bipolar-plate materials (cont.)
Carbon–carbon composite
Advantages ● High electrical conductivity
● High thermal conductivity
● Lightweight
● High-temperature operation
● High strength
● Highly corrosion- and chemical-resistant
● Flow-field introduced during stamping
of preform
Disadvantages ● Long and expensive chemical vapour
impregnation (CVI) process (bulk processing
and automation set to lower price)
Processing ● Slurry moulding (potential for continuous
options “paper making” processing)
● Pressing (of preform)
● Stamping (of preform)
● CNC milling of blank
rosion resistance. A collaboration between NREL and Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Tennessee, US), for exam-
ple, has developed a method of thermal nitridation that pro-
duces corrosion-resistant coatings designed for rapid and
inexpensive manufacturing.9 The process involves heating pre-
viously stamped or machined bipolar plates to 1100 ºC in an
atmosphere of nitrogen for 1–2 h. The nitride forms directly on
titanium, chromium and alloys thereof. In tests on Ni-50Cr
alloy, a high-integrity layer forms with negligible surface oxide
and no significant ion leaching from the bulk; contact resist-
ance is also improved compared to the untreated metal.
Such a designer alloy is far too expensive for fuel-cell applica-
tions, however, and lower-Cr alloys (such as SS348) do not ben-
efit from the same degree of corrosion protection. Nevertheless,
a collaboration involving GenCell Corporation (Connecticut,
US), NREL and ORNL is aiming to apply the nitridation process
to commercial alloys. Cost estimates for the process are in the
range of $0.1–1 per plate depending on size, shape and quantity.
Finally, INEOS Chlor Ltd (UK) has developed PEMcoat, a suite
of products that provide corrosion-resistant coatings and sur-
face treatments for nickel, titanium and stainless steel. The
process for stainless steel is particularly promising, since it can
be applied to low-cost variants such as SS316 and 316L. And
delamination is not an issue because the treatment is a modifi-
cation to the surface rather than a coating procedure. Reports
claim that reduced contact resistance, by virtue of the surface
treatment, accounts for almost a doubling of the area-specific
power output compared to unmodified SS316. The treatment
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
COMPONENTS
Carbon-polymer composite
Thermoset Thermoplastic
● Higher temperature operation than ● Injection moulding lends itself to
thermoplastic manufacturing automation
● Fast cycle-time ● Fast cycle time
● Flow-field introduced during moulding ● Flow-field introduced during moulding
● Low contact resistance ● Low contact resistance
● Relatively low electrical conductivity ● Low electrical conductivity when using
standard thermoplastics
● Limited to low-temperature operation
● Injection moulding difficult at high
graphite loadings
● Generally less chemically stable than
thermoset resins
● Compression moulding ● Injection moulding
● Post-moulding CNC milling of blank ● Compression moulding
● Post-moulding CNC milling of blank
for Ni/Ti has demonstrated operation in a working stack in
excess of 10 000 h, and for stainless steel in excess of 7000 h
with no decrease in performance. Clearly, such a product could
go a long way towards securing a place for metallic bipolar
plates in next-generation fuel-cell designs.
Carbon–carbon composites
Carbon–carbon composites were originally developed for the
Apollo space programme. Today, though, they are used in appli-
cations such as aircraft brakes and turbine rotors, where strength
and compatibility with high-temperature operation are essen-
tial. Those same characteristics are now being exploited in bipo-
lar plates. More than this, it’s the combination of strength, low
density, chemical stability, high electrical and thermal conduc-
tivity, and the ability to operate at temperatures in excess of
400 ºC that make carbon–carbon technology a promising devel-
opment route.10 In 2001, for example, Porvair Fuel Cells Inc.
(North Carolina, US) licensed carbon–carbon composite tech-
nology developed at ORNL and has subsequently invested over
$6 m, with the aid of the US DOE, to scale up its production
process to handle more than 300 plates per hour.
Carbon–carbon composites are made of a carbon matrix
reinforced with carbon fibres. The Porvair preparation involves
an initial slurry-moulding process, in which the slurry is com-
posed of carbon fibres (approximately 400 × 10 µm) suspended
in a water/phenolic-resin mixture. The phenolic binder imparts
“green strength” to the component after curing, yielding a pre-
form that can be pressed to form the flow-field features. This is
19
COMPONENTS
followed by chemical-vapour infiltration (CVI), a process that
deposits carbon at the near-surface of the material, making the
plate impermeable to reactants and greatly enhancing surface
conductivity. The CVI process involves treating the component
with a gaseous mixture containing methane at a temperature
of 1500 ºC, which causes carbon formation to occur around the
original carbon fibres. The elevated temperature of the CVI
process also causes pyrolysis of the phenolic binder, resulting
in a purely carbon–carbon composite material (figure 4).
Carbon–carbon plates can operate at much higher tempera-
tures than carbon–polymer composites owing to the all-carbon
nature of their design. They have low density (typically around
1.2–1.3 g/cm3) because of the retained porosity at the core of the
component; they are also significantly stronger and more elec-
trically conductive than carbon–polymer composites. A poten-
tial problem with the process is loss of dimensional tolerance
caused by shrinkage in the mould – though Porvair’s improve-
ments to the process have achieved an impressive capability of
approximately ±0.013 mm on the thickness uniformity and
±0.13 mm on length and width (depending on size and design
of the plate). Accuracy of bipolar-plate thickness is particularly
important, since tolerances accumulate as the plates are stacked
and can lead to leakage of seals.
The main disadvantage of carbon–carbon composites is their
longer processing time compared with carbon–polymer
moulded plates. It’s this feature, together with the high-temper-
ature CVI process, that makes the product potentially expen-
sive. Porvair, for its part, claim that carbon–carbon processing
costs are not prohibitive if plates are manufactured in sufficient
volumes. Cost estimates of $10/kW are predicted for manufac-
ture in quantities exceeding 1 million units per annum.
Carbon–polymer composites
Carbon–polymer composites are made by incorporating car-
bonaceous material into a polymer binder, thereby producing
a material that can be formed by injection or compression
moulding. These plates are low-cost, lightweight and amenable
to rapid processing since the flow-field geometry can be
moulded directly into the composite. However, the perform-
ance of carbon–polymer composites has, until recently, tended
to be inferior to that of other materials – largely a result of their
low electronic conductivity. Improving that conductivity is a
question of getting as much graphite into the composite as pos-
sible without affecting the mouldability. In this respect, electri-
cal conductivity has increased from as little as 2.4 S/cm for
carbon-black and polyvinylidene-fluoride (PVDF) composites
to over 300 S/cm for composites with graphite loadings as high
as 93% (reported by the Gas Technology Institute, for example).
It’s worth noting that carbon–polymer plates can be formed
in thinner sheets than carbon–carbon composite or graphite
plates; they also have lower contact resistances than metallic
plates, which offsets the lower bulk conductivity. The choice and
proportion of carbonaceous material, polymer binder, solvent
and other mechanical and conductivity-enhancing components
is vital in achieving the desired properties of the plate and deter-
mining the cost and processing conditions. The carbonaceous
20
4. Carbon–carbon technology
milled phenolic
carbon fibre resin
stirred slurry
vacuum
mould (150 °C)
preform
pressing/ vacuum
stamping pump
chemical vapour
infiltration (CVI) methane/argon
1350–1500 °C
bipolar plate
The fabrication of carbon–carbon composite bipolar plates by
chemical vapour infiltration (CVI), as pioneered by Porvair Fuel
Cells, US. The CVI process deposits carbon at the near-surface of
the material, making the plate impermeable to reactant and
significantly enhancing the surface conductivity.
material can be in the form of natural graphite, synthetic graphite
or non-graphitic carbon, such as coke. The graphite loading (typ-
ically 60–80%) and particle size (typically 50–200 µm) have a pro-
nounced effect on the electrical and thermal properties and ease
of processing. The polymer binder is generally either a thermo-
plastic (a plastic that repeatedly softens when heated and hard-
ens when cooled) or thermoset resin (a plastic that undergoes
permanent chemical change during heating or curing such that
the polymer chains cross-link and the material becomes rigid).
The composite may also have components added to reinforce the
structure and improve mechanical strength – for example, glass,
graphite fibres or KEVLAR. Components may also be added to
modify the hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties of the compos-
ite to aid removal of water from within the flow channels.
Which plastic? Thermoplastic versus thermoset
The choice of polymer binder is governed by the chemical com-
patibility with the fuel-cell environment, creep resistance,
operating temperature of the fuel cell (thermal stability), vis-
cosity when loaded with conductive filler, moulding process
and cost. (Depending on the composition, the resin can
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
 COMPONENTS

Table 2. Physical properties of bipolar-plate materials

Source Bulk Moulding Compounds SGL Carbon SGL Carbon Porvair POCO Graphite SS316L
Inc. (BMC 940) SIGRACET (BBP 4) SIGRACET (PPG 86) Fuel Cells (AXF 5Q) (unimpregnated)
Type Thermoset Thermoset Thermoplastic Carbon–carbon Graphite Metallic
composite
Density (g/cm3) 1.82 1.97 1.84 1.2–1.3 1.78 8
(20% porous)
Electronic 100* 200* 55.6* >500* 680.3 13513
conductivity (S/cm) 50† 41.6† 18.2†
Coefficient of thermal 30 5.8 49 2 7.9 16
expansion ×10–6 (K–1)
Thermal conductivity 18.5† 20.8 14 >35* 95 16.3
(W/m K) (at 85 °C)
Flexural strength 407.8 407.8 358.6 420–500 878.8
(kg/cm2)
Permeability coefficient 2.5 3.5 <0.2 Gas
(10–5 (cm3/cm2 s) tight
Max operating 200 ≤180 ≤80 >400 >400 (pyrolytic 1400
temperature (°C) glass transition impregnation) 150 m.p.
(resin impregnation)
* In-plane property † Through-plane property

account for the majority of the cost of the composite.)
Most carbon–polymer composites use thermoset resins (e.g.
phenolics, epoxies, polyester and vinyl ester). Epoxy is a popu-
lar example of a thermoset resin used in carbon–polymer bipo-
lar plates. Its low viscosity means that it can accommodate a
higher proportion of conductive filler; it also facilitates the
moulding process, allowing more intricate features and higher
dimensional tolerance to be achieved. Furthermore, the setting
chemistry of epoxy has the advantage that no volatiles are
released during the cure and the resulting polymer is highly
cross-linked and chemically resistant.
Thermoplastics (e.g. PVDF, polypropylene, polyethylene)
have been applied to a lesser extent because they are generally
not so chemically stable as thermosets and must operate at
lower temperatures to avoid melting. What’s more, higher-vis-
cosity thermoplastics are limited with respect to the amount
of graphite that can be added, so as to maintain the desired
moulding properties at processing temperature (typically
200–250 °C). This means that thermoplastic-based composites
suffer from lower electronic conductivity than other technolo-
gies. The main advantage of using thermoplastics, however, is
that they can be injection-moulded and are therefore more con-
ducive to automated manufacturing.
Recently, a special type of thermoplastic known as a liquid-
crystal polymer (LCP) has been used to produce a composite with
a carbon content of 85%. This composite, developed by Ticona
Engineering Polymers (Germany) and moulded by SGL Carbon,
is based on the former’s Vectra LCP, which can accommodate a
high carbon content (owing to the low viscosity of the polymer).
The high carbon content improves the electrical and thermal
conductivity, while ensuring that the polymer remains amenable
to injection moulding. Furthermore, the structure of the LCP
makes the material stronger, stiffer, of higher dimensional sta-
bility and more chemically resistant than amorphous thermo-
plastics; it also enables operation at temperatures of up to 200 ºC.
Following this innovation, Ticona has demonstrated a stack
made exclusively of engineering thermoplastics (see photo-
graph p23). Using carbon–LCP bipolar plates and end-plates of
Fortron (polyphenylene sulphide), Ticona claims a 50% lower-
ing of stack cost relative to metallic and graphite products – and
that’s despite the higher cost of LCPs over other plastics.
Elsewhere, DuPont of the US is also developing a composite
based on its Zenite LCP.
Adding detail: getting flow channels into the plate
In order to get the reactant to the electrodes, channels need to
be formed in the bipolar plate. Integrated cooling channels and
features such as manifolds and gasket grooves are also often
required. The manufacturing method for the plate, and partic-
ularly the forming of the flow-field geometry, is vital in deter-
mining the cost, throughput, level of detail, dimensional
tolerance and range of materials that can be processed.
Manual or computerized numerical control (CNC) routing is
the most common way in which prototypes are produced (and
is the method most commonly applied for graphite plates,
although it can be employed for most bipolar-plate materials).
The machining tolerance is high when using the CNC method,
and individual changes to flow-channel designs can be accom-
modated with ease. The big drawback is that the time required
to machine each plate is too long for large-scale manufactur-

THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG 21

COMPONENTS

5. Breaking the mould

(a) hydraulic piston Processes for making
heated platens moulded compression-moulded (a) and
bipolar plate
alignment injection-moulded (b) bipolar
pin plates. In compression
moulding, the carbon-
thermoset bulk-moulding
compound is added to a heated
thermoset
bipolar plate mould composite charge ejector pins mould, where it “flows” to fill
the cavity while subjected to a
hopper compressive pressure from a
(b) parting line
granular hydraulic piston. Injection
archimediean composite
screw melt moulding, which is used for
bipolar plate screw motor
mould and gears
thermoplastics and LCPs,
involves the addition of
powder or pellet feed via a
ejector hydraulic hopper into an Archimedean-
pins ram
type screw situated inside a
heated chamber.
mould cavity
heating zone
nozzle (heaters individually programmable)

ing; the long tool paths mean that a typical 140 × 140 mm plate
could take up to 15 min to rout. The lengthy cycle time, capital
cost of CNC machines and tool wear make machining of this
sort an expensive forming method.
An alternative way forward could be provided by an
approach called ElectroEtch. This etching technique, developed
by Morgan Fuel Cells (UK), allows complicated flow-fields to be
formed at a fraction of the cost of CNC milling and up to 30
times faster. The process involves blasting an air-abrasive
against a masked plate to form complicated flow-field features
(down to 200 µm). An example is the fractal-like Biomimetic
flow-field that Morgan has developed.
To sum up: metallic plates lend themselves to a wide range of
forming techniques, including casting, embossing and etch-
ing.4 Embossing is fast and inexpensive; however, channel
depth is limited as excessive embossing pressure can constrict
the metal and result in plate failure. The key advantage of car-
bon-composite technologies is that the flow-field design is
introduced during the moulding process. For carbon–polymer
composites, the moulding process is performed by compres-
sion or injection moulding (figure 5).
Compression versus injection moulding
Compression moulding is primarily used with thermoset-resin-
based composites, although it can also be used for
thermoplastics. In this process, the carbon-thermoset bulk-
moulding compound is added to a heated mould (at greater than
200 ºC) where it “flows” to fill the cavity while subjected to a
compressive pressure from a hydraulic piston. The limit on pro-
cessing time for the thermoset is the curing process (polymer
cross-linking) and the cooling time for thermoplastics.
Thermosets can be removed from the mould while hot, whereas
thermoplastics need to be cooled below their melting point
before removal. C A Lawson Co. (Wisconsin, US) has developed
a special compression-moulding press that can handle the poor
flowability of highly filled composites. The press can be auto-
mated and builds to a full pressure of 700 tonnes in 0.65 s. Highly
accurate plate dimensions are achieved by using a rigid frame
with very low platen deflection.
Injection moulding, used for thermoplastics and LCPs,
involves the addition of powder or pellet feed via a hopper into
an Archimedean-type screw situated inside a heated chamber;
the plastic melts in the chamber and is fed into the mould at
high pressure by the screw and hydraulic ram. The melt fills the
heated mould and is removed after cooling. Sophisticated injec-
tion-moulding machines make manufacturing automation
and mass-production easier, as well as ensuring short process-
ing times (as little as 30 s per plate) and high dimensional toler-
ance. However, in order to achieve reasonable electrical
conductivities, the thermoplastic must be highly loaded with
graphite, which causes the melt to flow poorly. This compli-
cates the moulding process and exposes the screw and mould
to excessive wear.
That said, the injection-moulding industry is well established
and responding positively to the bipolar-plate challenge. For
example, Century Engineering (Michigan, US) has developed a
12-screw “RingExtruder” that it claims will revolutionize the
way in which bipolar plates are made. Meanwhile, Quantum
Composites (Ohio, US), with the help of machinery from
Ferromatik Milacron (Germany), has been the first to demon-
strate injection moulding of a thermoset-based carbon-poly-
mer composite (PEMTEX) based on vinyl ester.

22 THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG

T ICONA
Left: bipolar plate made from Ticona’s Vectra liquid-crystal-polymer composite. Right: the ‘all plastic’ stack with Fortron endplates.
Which technology will prevail?
The lack of a reliable benchmark for performance and the rapid
rate of development make it difficult to say which type of bipo-
lar-plate material is best. Since fuel cells will penetrate such a
diverse range of markets, the question is not so much which
technology will prevail, but which technology best suits the
intended application. For example, light weight and high per-
formance are more important for automotive and mobile
applications, whereas durability and low cost are more impor-
tant for stationary applications.
Right now, flexible graphite plates have the greatest share of
the automotive market, largely because they are used in
Ballard’s Mark 900 Series stacks. Metal plates are achieving
excellent volumetric and gravimetric power densities owing to
the thinness of pressed plates. Novel stainless-steel alloys and
coated metal plates are overcoming the problem of corrosion
and extending lifetimes to technologically meaningful levels.
Carbon–carbon composites have many advantages, but
whether automation and large-scale production will realize the
cost target has yet to be seen. And carbon–polymer bipolar
plates have come a long way in terms of increasing bulk con-
ductivity and dimensional tolerance.
Just as significant is the fact that the plastics-moulding
industry has identified the huge potential market for bipolar
plates and is adapting machinery to accommodate the high
graphite loadings required for adequate conductivity with
high dimensional tolerance. The competition between ther-
moset and thermoplastics and compression and injection
moulding is wide open. At present, plastics companies are
mainly concentrating on compression moulding of ther-
moset composites. However, if injection-moulding machines
can be made to handle high graphite loading without signifi-
cant component wear, as seems to be the case, then the lure of
large-scale automation pulls in favour of injection moulding
in the future.
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
COMPONENTS
T ICONA
Further reading
1. V Mahta and J Smith Cooper 2003 Review and analysis of PEM fuel cell
design and manufacturing J. Power Sources 114 32.
2. J Cooper 2004 Design analysis of PEMFC bipolar plates considering
stack manufacturing and environmental impact J. Power Sources 129
152.
3. K Roßberg and V Trapp 2003 Graphite-based bipolar plates Handbook
of Fuel Cells – Fundamentals, Technology and Applications vol. 3 eds.
W Vielstich, H A Gasteiger and A Lamm (John Wiley & Sons Ltd.) 308.
4. J Wind, A LaCroix, S Braeuninger, P Hedrich, C Heller and M Schudy
2003 Metal bipolar plates and coatings Handbook of Fuel Cells –
Fundamentals, Technology and Applications vol. 3 eds. W Vielstich,
H A Gasteiger and A Lamm (John Wiley & Sons Ltd.) 294.
5. A S Woodman, E B Anderson, K D Jayne and M C Kimble 1999
Development of corrosion-resistant coatings for fuel cell bipolar plates
Proceedings of the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers Society 6 21.
6. D A Shores and G A Deluga 2003 Basic materials corrosion issues
Handbook of Fuel Cells – Fundamentals, Technology and Applications vol. 3 eds.
W Vielstich, H A Gasteiger and A Lamm (John Wiley & Sons Ltd.) 273.
7. H Wang, M A Sweikart and J A Turner 2003 Stainless steel as bipolar
plate material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells J. Power
Sources 115 243.
8. N Cunningham, D Guay, J P Dodelet, Y Meng, A R Hill and A S Hay
2002 J. Electrochem. Soc. 149 A905.
9. H Wang, M P Brady, G Teeter, J A Turner 2004 Thermally nitrided
stainless steels for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell bipolar
plates J. Power Sources 138 86.
10. T M Bessmann, J W Klett, J J Henry, Jr. and E Lara-Curzio 2000
Carbon/carbon composite bipolar plate for proton exchange
membrane fuel cells J. Electrochem. Soc. 147 4083.
Dan Brett is a research associate specializing in fuel-cell research in the
Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Nigel
Brandon holds the Shell Chair in Sustainable Development in Energy at
Imperial College London. He is a visiting professor at the University of
Connecticut’s Global Fuel Cell Center and chairman of the Energy Futures
● programme at Imperial College London.
23
 THE

FUEL CELL
QuebecCity
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REVIEW
Québec
May 15-20, 2005
he 207th ECS Meeting will be held at the Québec City

T Convention Centre, located in downtown Québec City

(1000 Blvd. René-Lévesque Est, Québec G1R 2B5 Canada).
This major international conference offers a unique blend of elec-
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formats including oral presentations, poster presentations, exhibits,
panel discussions, and short courses.
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budgets, special rates have been reserved at several hotels for partic-
ipants attending this meeting. We are financially responsible for all
of the meeting space used at the Québec City Convention Centre.
The amount charged for the meeting space is contingent upon the
total number of guestrooms reserved using our special convention
rates. All hotel rates are quoted in Canadian Dollars and are as fol-
lows:
Québec Hilton - $169 CDN Single or Double
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 FEATURE: MARKETS
Hydrogen fuel cells and
the automotive supply chain
A TAKAN O ZBEK
Fundamental innovation, technology transfer and wholehearted government backing are going
to be needed to fast-track the fuel-cell industry’s moves towards full-scale commercialization.
BALLARD
T OYO TA
The road is long: large public fleets are the perfect place for governments to provide financial support for the fuel-cell industry.
DOES IT MAKE sense to talk about a fuel-cell supply chain, any
more than it does to talk about a fuel-cell industry? While
there are nearly 100 operational fuel-cell vehicles being put
through their paces around the world, these vehicles remain
largely in the realm of research, proof-of-concept and proto-
type projects. Conversely, even if fuel cells remain very much a
“proto-industry”, many serious companies are collectively
sinking billions of R&D dollars into the technology, with the
clear expectation of seeing a viable, profitable, high-volume
industry develop in the fullness of time.
There are three major markets, or potential markets, for fuel
cells: micro (think of laptop computers), stationary (distributed
electricity generation) and automotive. It is essentially the same
fuel cell being used in each case, but each application has a differ-
ent set of operational parameters, which alter the performance
characteristics required from fuel-cell systems. This article deals
only with the automotive market and seeks to evaluate where
things stand today and what the prospects are for the future.
There are many promising, smallish companies in the sector,
producing and researching materials, components and sys-
tems. Trouble is, they’re not making any profit – yet. To survive
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
in this fuel-cell economy, companies have to be able to lose
money for a long period of time, which means that only large
companies with a high level of commitment are able to sustain
the financial load. Because the production volumes that were
predicted three years ago haven’t materialized so far, compa-
nies in the sector have had to prepare themselves financially for
the long haul – chiefly by cutting costs. Ballard Power Systems,
FuelCell Energy and Plug Power are three high-profile compa-
nies that have been forced to adjust their operations in this way.
Sound technology
The fact that it’s going to take longer than anticipated to develop
an automotive fuel-cell industry does not mean in any way that
there is a question-mark hanging over the technology. If there
were, those billions of R&D dollars would not be spent each
year. What’s more, the amount of funding going into fuel-cell
programmes is increasing year on year, and there is a high level
of interest from venture-capital firms and other financial com-
panies, as well as from large technology companies interested
in buying up smaller players.
But even Ballard, the largest fuel-cell manufacturer, now has
25
MARKETS
BM W
a market capitalization of less than a billion dollars (around
$750 m in mid-January, which is about 5% of the level it
reached at the peak of the technology boom in 2000). On a
more encouraging note, DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motor
Company have both recently increased their stakes in Ballard
(to about 25% and 17% respectively) by completing an invest-
ment of approximately $45 m. In a way, this strategic move
illustrates both DaimlerChrysler’s and Ford’s ongoing com-
mitment to the Canadian manufacturer, as well as increasing
the two car makers’ clout in Ballard’s day-to-day operations
and longer-term roadmap.
For a company with very deep pockets, such as General
Motors, an investment like this is not a problem, which is why it
still spends in excess of $200 m on fuel-cell development every
year, as well as maintaining more than 100 engineers working
on different aspects of fuel-cell systems. Yet the fact that there
are hundreds more companies with a foothold in the embry-
onic fuel-cell supply chain – and that’s before there are any
commercial products – is equally encouraging. Most of the
companies in the sector are doing their planning on two levels:
one plan for the next year or two, and one for the mid- to long-
term. It is clear that most of them are not really expecting to see
radical commercial developments in the next five years.
What’s needed?
What parameters characterize the automotive fuel cell? To be
commercially successful, a fuel-cell system has to give what an
internal combustion engine gives to today’s vehicles – and
more. On the technology end, the fuel-cell stack must have an
operational life of at least 5000 h (it is currently around 1500 h).
The device should have a start-up time of less than 5 s; major
auto companies are confident start-up time will not be a show-
stopper, a position shared by the team here at ABI Research.
Just as important, the automotive fuel cell should operate with
equal efficiency at temperatures from below freezing to desert
heat. There are also peak-load requirements specific to vehicles
that must be met during operation. In summary, a fuel-cell sys-
tem needs to have the following characteristics to be usable in
transportation applications: high-temperature, high-pressure
operation; high variable-duty cycles; and low humidity.
It is the vehicle manufacturers, however, who will have the
final say over the technical specifications of the fuel-cell power
plants, because it is their products that will be in the hands of
consumers. As such, it is they who will ultimately decide which
components and which materials will make up a fully mature
fuel-cell supply chain.
So what are the most common materials and components
that will go into the fuel-cell supply chain as it develops? A fuel-
cell stack can be thought of as a sandwich in which bipolar
plates represent the “bread”, while membrane–electrode
assemblies, gas-diffusion layers and seals provide the “filling”.
The stack will include materials such as thermoplastics, elas-
tomers, lithium and nickel, carbon black and graphite.
Fortunately, some of the largest suppliers of these materials –
companies such as 3M, Dow Corning and DuPont – are already
important suppliers to the automotive sector, and they are car-
26
Chicken and egg: to ensure long-term viability, a hydrogen
production and distribution system needs to be built, even while
the search for an economically sustainable fuel-cell vehicle goes on.
rying out intensive research in an effort to make these materials
lighter, stronger and cheaper.
Things are not so straightforward when it comes to the cata-
lyst, although platinum, the most commonly used fuel-cell cat-
alyst, is already found in the automotive supply chain inside the
catalytic converter. The big problem with platinum is its price:
it costs about $900 per ounce (28 g). At current efficiency lev-
els, it takes about 2 g of platinum to produce 1 kW of power.
With a typical motor vehicle demanding anything from 50 to
100 kW, that translates to a price of somewhere between $1600
and $3200 per vehicle – just for the platinum. Clearly, the cost of
the platinum alone renders current fuel-cell designs unfeasible
and uneconomical, and the goal of researchers at many com-
panies is to reduce the amount of platinum required by a factor
of 10, down to 0.2 g/kW.
Others are seeking an answer to the platinum problem by
substituting cheaper metals (such as palladium) or nanocom-
posite oxide materials. But the lower catalytic efficiency of such
alternatives has so far prevented any other catalysts from find-
ing widespread adoption. It is encouraging that so much
research into catalysts is under way, yet this also has a down-
side: it prevents us from developing a reliable picture of what
fuel-cell systems may look like several years from now. That
uncertainty increases the discomfort felt by all stakeholders in
the industry, and results in a lot of uninformed negative pub-
licity that questions the basic viability of the technology. Such
speculation is hurting the fledgling industry at present, and
slowing its progress.
Over time, economies of scale will obviously help to drive
down the costs of fuel-cell materials and components.
Meanwhile, Nissan’s chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn
recently estimated the cost of the company’s prototype fuel-
cell vehicle to be about $1.5 m. And it’s safe to say that fuel-cell
vehicles will remain very expensive until at least 5000–10 000
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
BM W
Fuel for thought: one of the biggest R&D challenges is the
realization of a practical on-board hydrogen-storage system.
Current storage systems are too heavy, too large and too costly.
units are being manufactured annually. In fact, “real” manufac-
turing volumes for a mass-market motor vehicle start at
100 000, and by the time a million fuel-cell vehicles are being
built every year, all the economies of scale that might be
expected from such volumes should become visible.
When it comes to the prototypes and test beds currently
being constructed, a supply chain related to other industries
has already sprung up. Its elements vary with the capacity of
the manufacturer. For example, if General Motors wants to
build three fuel-cell-powered vehicles for a trial, it can do the
whole job in-house, including the fuel cells. A company like
DaimlerChrysler, on the other hand, would probably order a
fuel-cell system from, say, Ballard. Ballard in turn would make
some system elements itself, but for components such as
graphite plates, for instance, it would turn to existing suppliers
with established businesses and revenues in other vertical
industries (GrafTech International in this case). Such compa-
nies are using their existing supply-chain relationships and
modifying them to fit the fuel-cell production model.
And then there’s hydrogen
It really is impossible to talk about an automotive fuel-cell sup-
ply chain without also considering the hydrogen supply chain.
No matter how advanced and how economical your vehicle, it’s
not going anywhere without widespread availability of hydro-
gen in an easily usable form. Fortunately, hydrogen is a com-
mon substance with long-established supply chains in many
industries. But before it gets to a pump that a driver can use, a
number of questions will have to be answered. Who is going to
produce the hydrogen? Where will it come from? Will we use
natural gas? If so, what kind of production technology will be
employed? Will the current natural-gas infrastructure be suf-
ficient to meet demand, or must it be upgraded?
And what about the last link in that supply chain: the con-
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
MARKETS
sumer at the pump? Demonstration projects are examining
issues such as whether we will have dedicated hydrogen sta-
tions (as at Munich airport and in Iceland), or just another
pump at a conventional gasoline filling station (as in a
Washington DC trial, where General Motors is supplying the
vehicles and Shell the hydrogen). The latter option is easier and
more achievable in the short term, but it would mean consid-
erable alteration to existing infrastructure.
And what about transmission of hydrogen fuel? Who is
going to deliver it to the location where it will be used? Will
hydrogen be stored on site, or will we build pipelines for deliv-
ery? If it’s the latter, all pipeline companies should be watching
developments closely, because these are questions involving
billions of dollars of potential revenues. It’s a classic chicken-
and-egg situation: for long-term viability, a hydrogen distribu-
tion system needs to be built, even while the search for an
economically sustainable fuel-cell vehicle goes on.
The race is for the fleet
To ensure popular acceptance, the answers to these questions
should demand minimal change in the consumer’s driving and
refuelling habits. But the individual buyer – the biggest prize in
monetary terms – is also the hardest to win and hold on to.
Individuals are likely to be the last adopters of fuel-cell vehicles,
not the first. So fuel-cell vehicles will find their first market in
fleet applications. And the biggest fleets are run by big munici-
pal governments – New York City, for instance, has about 4500
buses in the metropolitan area.
Large public fleets are the perfect place for governments to
begin extending the financial support that this proto-industry
needs to kick-start its engine. They are also a very visible plat-
form for governments that have the political will to address
environmental issues and – except in the US and Australia – to
work toward meeting Kyoto Protocol commitments. Trial proj-
ects reflecting such government support already exist. In the
European Union, the Clean Urban Transport for Europe
(CUTE) project has been running 27 Mercedes-Benz Citaro
fuel-cell buses (with Ballard power plants) in nine European
cities. In related projects, several of the buses are being put into
service in the Ecological City Transport System (ECTOS) in
Reykjavik, Iceland, and a further three in the Sustainable
Transport Energy Project (STEP) in the Australian city of Perth
(see The Fuel Cell Review August/September 2004 p7).
What’s important in these small field trials is determining
what kind of fuel-cell system must be used in vehicles for the
auto makers to feel comfortable that they can use and build
them. As of early November 2004, the CUTE, ECTOS and STEP
fuel-cell buses had covered a collective distance of 42 000 km,
consuming about 44 000 kg of hydrogen in the process. That’s
a lot of hydrogen that needs to be paid for and a lot of front-
loaded investment. In the end, of course, fuel-cell and hydro-
gen supply chains must be profitable and self-sustaining.
All of this begs another leading question. Right now, how
do fuel-cell vehicles stack up against conventional gasoline
vehicles? Fuel cells are nearly twice as efficient as internal
combustion engines at converting fuel to usable energy, and
27
MARKETS
scientists and engineers believe they can achieve considerably
better performance. But hydrogen, in spite of being the most
abundant element and the product of an already huge indus-
try, currently costs three to five times as much as petrol to
produce. Only when manufacturing volumes increase fur-
ther will that cost come down.
An industry in flux
On environmental grounds, however, fuel cells would seem
at first glance to be a “no-brainer”. The main by-product of
fuel-cell reactions is water. But many different analytical
models are being used to assess the net effect of fuel cells on
the atmosphere. The National Academy of Sciences in the US
has reached mixed conclusions, using a “well-to-wheel”
model adapted from the oil economy (i.e. a model that breaks
down the hydrogen supply chain into segments from pro-
duction to fuel tank to where the rubber meets the road). In
its study, fuel-cell systems proved to be very clean from tank
to wheel. But the academy notes that the methods of produc-
ing hydrogen that we have today – based largely on process-
ing of hydrocarbon feedstocks – actually produce more
atmospheric pollution than is saved by replacing the internal
combustion engine.
That means that unless governments take the lead, lending
financial support and dragging the oil companies and auto-
motive manufacturers along, the process of developing this
28
industry will take much longer than necessary. Put another
way: the phased inclusion of large numbers of fuel-cell vehi-
cles into public fleets will be a major driver for the sector in the
next 10 to 15 years.
And let’s not forget that a huge amount of R&D is being done.
Who’s to say that someone isn’t going to emerge from a labo-
ratory somewhere soon with a catalyst material that does a bet-
ter job than platinum at a tenth of its cost? That would really
change the whole picture. Other promising avenues of investi-
gation include, for example, carbon nanostructures for hydro-
gen storage. If storing hydrogen at 10 000 psi suddenly became
feasible, we would see cars that could easily travel 300 or
400 miles on a tank of the gas.
That said, it remains unlikely that any “magic” invention will
change everything at a stroke. More likely, fuel cells will
become part of the technology mainstream through multiple,
incremental breakthroughs in materials, components and
infrastructure. Only when all the pieces fall into place – perhaps
10 years from now – will we see the emergence of a true, indus-
trial-sized fuel-cell supply chain. ●
Atakan Ozbek is principal analyst, energy research, at ABI Research, an analyst
firm specializing in technology markets. ABI is based in Oyster Bay, New York,
US, and has offices in London and Hong Kong. Further information about the
group’s latest study on the automotive fuel-cell supply chain may be found at
www.abiresearch.com/reports/AFSC.html.
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG

TECHNOLOGY
TRACKING
Product development
From innovation to manufacturing
Advanced electrolyte materials could make solid-oxide fuel cells a more compelling proposition.
Some big bets are being placed on the future of
solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The US Depart-
ment of Energy’s Solid State Energy Conversion
Alliance (SECA) is a case in point; it is spending
around $50 m a year to fast-track the commer-
cialization of these multikilowatt power
sources (The Fuel Cell Review October/November
2004 p38). If true believers like SECA have got
it right, SOFCs are destined for great things in
stationary industrial and residential power gen-
eration, auxiliary power for trucks and cars, and
all manner of military applications.
For now, though, SOFCs remain a “show me”
technology, with plenty of technical obstacles
yet to be overcome. The SOFC design is based
on a ceramic electrolyte with doped oxide cath-
odes; the anodes typically comprise a ceramic-
nickel mixture. Oxygen in the air reacts with
electrons at the cathode to create oxide ions.
These ions migrate to the anode through the
solid electrolyte, which must be as thin as pos-
sible to reduce resistance. At the anode, the
oxide ions react with hydrogen to produce
water – a process that also generates energy.
Since conventional electrolyte materials
such as yttria-stabilized zirconia only perform
well at high temperatures, SOFCs have in the
main been designed to operate at between 800
and 1000 °C. This is good news in some
respects – for example, SOFCs can work with a
wide range of fuels and there is no need for
expensive precious-metal catalysts. Trouble is,
high-temperature operation also comes with a
downside. There are considerable thermal-
management challenges in this regime, not
least the need for costly heat-resistant materi-
als in balance-of-plant components and the
difficulties associated with the sealing of
ceramic components to obtain gas tightness.
Leap of faith
Those challenges were very much to the fore
back in 2001 when a team of senior fuel-cell
and materials scientists at Imperial College,
London, put their collective know-how
behind a university start-up called Ceres
Power. Throughout the 1990s, the researchers
had been working on advanced electrolyte
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
A clear roadmap: after listing on London’s
Alternative Investment Market in November
last year, Ceres Power is focusing on prototype
development, testing and the validation of its
manufacturing process.
Also in this section
30 Regenerative fuel cells
31 On-board fuel reforming
31 Hydrogen-storage R&D
32 Test and measurement
materials that would enable SOFCs to operate
successfully at temperatures of 500–600 °C.
At these temperatures, low-cost stainless steel
can be used for the balance-of-plant compo-
nents, while the benefits of high-temperature
operation (i.e. multiple fuels and no precious-
metal catalyst) are retained.
The impetus behind the creation of Ceres
was a materials-science breakthrough identi-
fying a method for depositing an electrolyte
called cerium gadolinium oxide (CGO) onto a
stainless-steel support. Building on the origi-
nal patented design from Imperial, Ceres has
developed significant expertise in manufac-
turing techniques and ink formulations, as
well as the engineering of complete systems
for its target market applications.
Four years on and Ceres Power is a product-
development company that specializes in what
it calls the “power chips” at the heart of the
SOFC. These chips are essentially stainless-
steel wafers coated with CGO electrolyte and
the fuel-cell electrodes. The latter are based on
standard SOFC materials – the anode is a
ceramic–nickel mixture (cermet) and the cath-
ode is based on lanthanum-strontium-cobalt
ferrite. Durability testing on cells and stacks
indicates that the technology can operate for
many thousands of hours with minimum
degradation (and using widely available fuels
like natural gas and liquid-petroleum gas).
The fuel cells are also robust when it comes
to thermal cycling between extremes of tem-
perature, coping with hundreds of rapid cycles
from room temperature to full power at 600 °C.
“This is very unusual for SOFCs,” claims Peter
Bance, Ceres’ chief executive officer, adding that
the key to the durability of the fuel cells is that
the underlying materials are so well matched
across the intermediate temperature range.
Right now, Ceres is concentrating its efforts
on technology transfer and commercializa-
tion. Development of advanced materials will
continue, but the company’s technical priori-
ties in the short term mirror its commercial
goals. In other words, Ceres wants to validate
its manufacturing process and to further the
design, demonstration and testing of proto-
29
TECHNOLOGY TRACKING

type fuel-cell systems alongside partner com-
panies. Significantly, the financial picture
looks solid for the foreseeable. Two venture-
financing rounds in 2001 and 2003 yielded a
total of £10 m ($18.6 m) and helped to generate
momentum for early-stage development. In
2004, staff numbers doubled (to around 30),
and recruitment is ongoing. In particular,
Bance and his team are looking for engineers
with a track record in manufacturing scale-up
(not surprising, given that work is now under
way on the commissioning of a pilot-scale
manufacturing plant at Ceres’ headquarters).
Last November, things moved up a gear when
Ceres listed on London’s Alternative Investment
Market (a secondary stock exchange specifically
for new growth businesses). The stock offering
was oversubscribed and generated around
£16 m of development capital. As well as fund-
ing the manufacturing side of the business, the
money will be used to build long-term develop-
ment partnerships with systems integrators,
component suppliers and other manufacturers.
In recent months, for example, Ceres has been
working with the industrial-gases giant BOC to
evaluate the use of liquid-petroleum gas in its
SOFCs. Further collaborations are in the works.
Clearly, Ceres has negotiated the tricky tran-
sition from the rarefied confines of academia to
commercial independence. Beyond giving
Imperial College a minority stake in exchange
for its core intellectual property, the start-up
has not kept any special links with its parent.
However, the company does collaborate with
the university on specific mid- and long-term
R&D projects, with Ceres owning any new
intellectual property in its core areas of activity.
“The umbilical cord was cut when we spun out
and got our first round of venture-capital fund-
ing,” says Bance.
Time will tell whether Ceres is capable of
pulling off the most difficult transition of all –
from product-development hot-house to man-
ufacturing powerhouse.
Siân Harris and Joe McEntee

Innovation
80% energy efficiency at 100 mA/cm2
Question: when is a fuel 1.4
500 mA/cm2 pulse capability
cell not a fuel cell? 1.3

1.2
Answer: when it thinks it’s a battery.
cell voltage (V)

1.1

It uses metal-hydride materials in place of 1.0

costly noble-metal catalysts in the fuel anode.
It requires hydrogen fuel but is also capable of
operating for several minutes without any fuel
at all. It can run “backwards” and store energy
within the fuel-cell stack at 80% efficiency and
without the need for electrolysis of water. What
is it? It’s a radical rethink of fuel-cell first prin-
ciples from the Ovonic Fuel Cell Company of
Rochester Hills, Michigan, US.
The key to Ovonic’s “regenerative” fuel cell is
the design of the electrodes, which are able to
store energy in a similar way to nickel-metal-
hydride batteries. Hydrogen gas diffuses
throughout the anode and is absorbed by the
electrode material; in a similar way, oxygen is
stored in the metal-oxide-based cathode.
Electrical current evolves through the exchange
of protons from the anode to the cathode via an
electrolyte. However, given an excess of hydride
and oxide in the anode and cathode respec-
tively, the cell is able to operate without exter-
nal fuel or oxygen for as long as 11 min at 50%
peak current (5 min at 100% peak current).
Ovonic claims that the regenerative design is
compatible with the full range of fuel-cell
chemistries (alkaline, polymer-electrolyte,
phosphoric acid, solid oxide and molten car-
bonate). That said, the initial development
effort is focusing around an alkaline electrolyte
(potassium hydroxide) that facilitates the
introduction of metal-hydride materials into
the hydrogen-fuel anode and ensures more
favourable kinetics at the metal-oxide air cath-
ode (as well as allowing the introduction of
non-noble metal catalysts at the cathode).
In terms of technical specifications, how-
0.9
0.8
0.7 100 mA/cm2 100 mA/cm2 100 mA/cm2
discharge charge discharge
0.6
0.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
time (s)
The Ovonic fuel cell uses metal-hydride battery technology to support regenerative operation
(i.e. the ability to accept regenerative braking energy in an automotive application). Here, the
fuel-cell stack operating at 100 mA/cm2 is interrupted by a 100 mA/cm2 pulse. During the pulse,
the cell voltage increases to about 1.25 V, indicating the storage of energy without electrolysis of
water. Following the pulse, the cell exhibits an elevated voltage as a result of the stored energy.
ever, Ovonic still has a significant amount of Durability and lifetime studies also look prom-
work to do if its regenerative cell is to become ising, with individual electrode half-cell tests
competitive with the latest polymer-elec- exceeding 5000 h of continuous operation at
trolyte-membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). “The rated currents.
technology is still fairly immature, but we are Prototype multicell products will be ready to
confident that we can be competitive with ship later this year. In the near term, Ovonic is
PEMFCs on power-to-weight,” explained betting that its regenerative fuel cell will find
Dennis Corrigan, president of Ovonic. The cell applications in uninterruptible power supplies,
is currently capable of generating around back-up power for telecommunications net-
70 W/kg compared to approximately 1 kW/kg works and military systems. Further down the
for state-of-the-art PEMFCs. Corrigan contin- line, Corrigan hopes car manufacturers will
ued: “In terms of current density, the leading buy into the regenerative capabilities of the
PEMFCs are achieving about 1 A/cm2, while design, not least its ability to capture and utilize
we are currently at 250 mA/cm2.” regenerative braking energy at high efficiency.
While there’s room for improvement on The Ovonic Fuel Cell Company currently
power performance, the Ovonic cell has plenty holds 11 US patents on the technology, with a
of plus points, not least its instant-start capa- further 20 applications pending. The company
bility (of the order of microseconds) and its is a subsidiary of the Ovonic Energy Conversion
low-temperature performance (with 50% peak Devices (ECD) Group.
power at 0 °C and operation to below –20 °C). Jonathan Wills

30 THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG


Hydrogen production
Reforming the reformers
ExxonMobil reckons on-board fuel reforming is edging closer to becoming a practical proposition.
With national networks of hydrogen fuelling
stations likely to be rolled out over a period of
decades rather than years, it’s clear that car mak-
ers and infrastructure companies will need to
make some transitional moves if fuel-cell vehi-
cles are to build any kind of critical mass in the
interim. One of those evolutionary steps could
involve the reforming of gasoline to hydrogen
on board fuel-cell vehicles. The favoured
approach uses a fuel processor based on steam
reforming, in which hydrocarbon fuel reacts
with steam at high temperatures over a catalyst
to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Steam reforming is the most cost-effective
method for generating hydrogen, and also the
most efficient, with conversion rates of
between 70 and 80%. The technique is widely
used in large-scale industrial applications – in
petrochemical refineries and chemical plants,
for example. Trouble is, it does not follow that
simply downsizing an industrial-grade steam
reformer will result in an appropriate technol-
ogy for on-board hydrogen generation.
Now, however, a team of engineers from
ExxonMobil Corporate Research in Annan-
dale, New Jersey, US, has come up with an
alternative take on hydrogen production –
one that they claim could be compatible with
both on-board vehicle applications and large-
scale distributed fuel-cell power systems. The
innovation, which they call a pressure swing
reformer (PSR), relies on a steam-reforming
process to generate high-pressure, undiluted
syngas (a hydrogen/CO mix) from low-pres-
sure air at very high efficiency. It’s all about
simplification, not least the fact that the PSR
performs the heat transfer inside the reactor
(within the catalyst bed), thereby eliminating
many of the troublesome heat-transfer steps
found in conventional steam reformers.
“For on-vehicle applications, previous efforts
[on fuel reforming] have all suffered from the
inability to meet very challenging performance
targets: size, start-up time, start-up energy
and system simplicity,” explained ExxonMobil
spokesperson Paul Berlowitz. “Typically, fuel
processing for fuel-cell vehicle applications
employs a reforming reactor followed by several
CO chemical-conversion stages. Each reactor
requires an intermediate heat exchanger, further
complicating the system.”
Exxon claims that the PSR overcomes these
drawbacks by reducing the overall component
count in the system. The reformer and the inlet
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
TECHNOLOGY TRACKING
(a)
catalytic non-catalytic
(reforming) (recuperation)
(b)
regen
(c)
reform
Heat-bubble evolution within the catalyst bed
(a). During regeneration, the heat bubble
expands and moves to the left (b); during
reforming, the heat bubble contracts and moves
right (c). The high temperature cycles around
the centre, leaving the inlet and outlet cool.
and exit heat exchangers are all incorporated
into the PSR reactor bed. By enabling separa-
tion, the high-pressure, undiluted syngas out-
put eliminates all of the CO clean-up reactors
and heat exchangers, and results in a pure
hydrogen product suitable for the fuel-cell
stack. As a result, claims Berlowitz, the PSR can
be integrated directly into the fuel-cell stack,
ensuring “system simplicity and reducing
overall size, weight and cost”.
The heart of the PSR is a single chamber
enclosing a solid heat-exchange bed. Most of
the chemistry occurs around the interface with
Advanced materials
The deep secrets of
solid-state storage
Can US researchers come up with a viable
system for in-vehicle hydrogen storage?
They’re certainly going to try.
General Motors (GM) and Sandia National
Laboratories have embarked on a $10 m collab-
oration to develop advanced hydrogen-storage
methods based on metal-hydride materials.
Over the next four years, researchers in Detroit,
Michigan, and Livermore, California, will team
the reforming catalyst, which is localized
within a section of the bed. Combustion and
reformation reactions occur in a cycle, sequen-
tially heating and cooling the bed. At the same
time, the reactor oscillates between low pres-
sure during combustion and higher pressure
during reformation.
The reaction scheme generates a heat “bub-
ble” (1000–1200 °C) within the bed. This bub-
ble expands and contracts, promoting high
reformation rates whilst allowing the input
and output gases to remain relatively cool (less
than 400 °C). The resulting high-pressure syn-
gas then passes through a separation system
(such as pressure-swing adsorption or mem-
branes similar to those used in industrial
reforming) to yield a high-purity hydrogen
product that can be used directly in a polymer-
electrolyte-membrane fuel cell.
Although development is still at an early
stage, the ExxonMobil team has demonstrated
encouraging fuel-conversion yields (more
than 95%) at reasonable temperatures (less
than 1200 °C) for a methane feed. Similar
results have been obtained for liquid-petro-
leum conversion. Start-up time for the PSR is
estimated at around 20 s, and less than 30 s for
the entire fuel processor.
Berlowitz concluded: “We have used steady-
state and dynamic system modelling to evalu-
ate the PSR system against the on-board vehicle
targets developed by the US Department of
Energy for 2010 and 2015. The results show an
integrated PSR-based system has the potential
to meet stringent targets for size, start-up time
and overall system efficiency.”
Jonathan Wills
up in a bid to realize a prototype solid-state
hydrogen “tank” based on sodium alanate.
For now, the goal is to develop a hydrogen
tank capable of storing more on-board fuel
than traditional compressed-gas or liquid-
hydrogen approaches. The end-game, however,
is to find a way of storing enough on-board
hydrogen to enable a fuel-cell vehicle to match
or exceed the driving range of a petrol or diesel-
fuelled internal-combustion-engine vehicle.
“Hydrides have shown a lot of early promise
to one day increase the range of fuel-cell
vehicles,” explained Jim Spearot, director of the
GM advanced hydrogen-storage programme.
“We know a lot of research still needs to be
done, both on the types of hydrides we use and
31
TECHNOLOGY TRACKING

BUD PELLETIER
the tanks we store them in, [but] we think our rials. For example, magnesium-modified
work with Sandia will get us another step Li-amide potentially offers 10.4 wt% reversible
closer to our goal.” storage at operating temperatures of less than
Initially, the researchers will analyse several 200 °C; and LiBH4 desorbs three of the four H
tank designs using thermal and mechanical atoms per molecule (13.5 wt%) upon melting at
modelling. Control systems, heat management 280 °C (although it requires heating to 700 °C
and tank size/shape will all be considered and 200 bar pressures to recharge).
before the most promising tank configurations Nevertheless, GM–Sandia and others have a
are subjected to rigorous safety testing ahead long way to go before a commercially viable
of prototype fabrication. metal-hydride storage system becomes practi-
Hydride storage works on the principle that cal. For starters, the temperature at which
some metal alloys and other metallic materi- hydrogen is released is currently too high and
als are able to absorb large amounts of hydro- therefore consumes too much energy. Equally,
gen by forming metal-hydride compounds. the time taken to “refuel” or reabsorb hydrogen
When heated, the hydrogen is released and is too long – around 30 min for the best-per-
the material reverts back to its original, dehy- forming materials.
drogenated state. In this way, solid-state mate- The research conducted through the
rials could be used as refillable hydrogen-fuel Thermal management: Sandia engineer GM–Sandia partnership is privately funded
stores for both stationary and mobile fuel-cell Terry Johnson sets up a test apparatus that, and independent from that related to Sandia’s
applications. when verified, will generate external heat to participation in the Metal-Hydride Centre of
Sodium alanate (NaAlH4) is one of the most improve the overall energy density of the Excellence. The Centre of Excellence, which is
promising metal hydrides for hydrogen-stor- hydrogen-storage medium. being funded through a US Department of
age applications. Currently, the material sys- Energy “Grand Challenge”, aims to develop a
tem can achieve around 3 wt% reversible with small amounts of titanium-based com- new class of materials capable of storing
hydrogen storage at reasonable rates when dis- pounds and other agents. In separate studies, hydrogen safely and economically.
charged at more than 100 °C and when doped scientists are evaluating alternative storage mate- Jonathan Wills

Test and measurement

The root causes of underperformance

While AC impedance studies provide a powerful tool for analysing fuel-cell behaviour, development engineers need to know
exactly what they’re looking at if they are to get the most from their experimental data.

A deeper understanding of fundamental elec- (a) (b) 50

trochemical processes will be essential if 3 0.03 Hz
1 Hz
researchers are to capitalize on advances in 2 10 kHz 40
materials science and component-level inno- 30
1
vations in the next generation of fuel cells,
–z ′′

batteries and supercapacitors. In this regard, 0 20

0.03 Hz
–z ′′

electrode kinetics water transport

electrochemical impedance spectroscopy –1 10
(EIS) stands out from all other electrochemi- 0
–2
cal analysis techniques, chiefly because – in ohmic loss
marked contrast with traditional DC analyti- –3 –10 10 kHz
cal techniques – information regarding ohmic –4 –20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
losses, reaction kinetics and mass-transfer
z ′ (ohms) z ′ (ohms)
processes can be characterized in a single
experiment. Data from an AC impedance study of a 1 W direct-methanol fuel cell operated at 10 mA. In both
Those DC techniques involve perturbing the curves, Z’ and Z’’ are the ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the phase components of the cell impedance (derived
system under study by applying either a large from mathematical manipulation of the current and voltage). Their relationship shows whether
potential difference or a current, and then mon- the cell is performing as it should. Figure (a) is the initial plot for the cell, with two impedance arcs.
itoring the resultant current–voltage curves. It’s The high-frequency arc (left-hand side) corresponds to the electrode kinetic response; the width
a straightforward process and any deviations of the arc is a measure of the rate of the electrochemical reaction. This is followed by a low-
from the expected results are easy to spot. This frequency arc (<1 Hz) which can be attributed to water management. Figure (b) shows the same
can be as far as it goes, however. Being DC, any cell after it has been operated at 10 mA for 1 h. Only a single arc is now present, which suggests
fundamental change within the cell will only be that the cell has become flooded with water and that this is limiting performance.
measured as a change in voltage or current, so
it is often difficult to make the transition from concern that any analytical technique necessi- representative of the cell characteristics under
identifying the existence of a problem to work- tating a large DC perturbation will result in the required load conditions.
ing out its cause. Furthermore, there is a transient measurements which are not truly EIS provides a powerful way forward by

32 THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG

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THE

FUEL CELL
REVIEW
COMING UP IN FUTURE ISSUES
Feature: Intermediate-temperature SOFCs: the technology challenge Subhash Singhal et al., Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US
Feature: Molten-carbonate fuel cells: field trials shape the agenda Paul Oei et al., FuelCell Energy, US
Feature: New frontiers in fuel-cell test and measurement Craig Andrews et al., Fideris, US
Special report: The US Navy's fuel-cell R&D programme Hamish Johnston, senior contributing editor
Special report: The European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform Joe McEntee, editor
Show report: In-depth coverage of all the big issues at the NHA's 16th Annual US Hydrogen Conference and Exhibition, Washington, DC
Joe McEntee, editor

THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG 33

TECHNOLOGY TRACKING
applying a small sinusoidal perturbation (cur-
rent or potential) at a wide range of frequen-
cies on top of the fuel cell’s normal behaviour.
The principle is based on AC impedance the-
ory, which looks at the response of a circuit to
alternating current or voltage as a function of
frequency. The analogue of AC circuit theory
is used to characterize the electrochemical
system in terms of an equivalent-circuit
model. What’s more, because small excitation
34
amplitudes are typically used (5–10 mV rms),
EIS does not disturb the fuel cell under test
and so provides a more realistic picture of the
operational performance.
Unsurprisingly, a number of test and meas-
urement companies are already battling for
market share, pushing EIS analysers of varying
sophistication. John Harper, an applications
specialist at UK-based Solartron Analytical,
one of the leading vendors of EIS gear, is clear
THE FUEL CELL REVIEW | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 | FCR.IOP.ORG
about the benefits of AC impedance studies.
“We apply a range of frequencies over single
experiments,” he said, adding that a typical
Solartron analyser can apply frequencies from
1 MHz down to 10 µHz.
This is important, says Harper, because the
factors governing electrochemical reactions
occur on very different timescales. For exam-
ple, the kinetics of the oxidation and reduction
reactions can be fast (typically measured at
high- to mid-frequencies of between about
10 kHz and 1 Hz), while changes in water con-
tent generally happen much more slowly (usu-
ally observed at frequencies of less than 1 Hz).
In addition, evaluation of ohmic losses may
require analysis in the >10 kHz region.
Changing the frequency of the applied current
enables designers to decipher the timescale on
which a problem is occurring and get to the
root of that problem more quickly.
Too much information?
There are drawbacks, however. For starters,
EIS results are more complicated to interpret,
because AC techniques yield a lot more infor-
mation than their DC counterparts. Changes
in the output signal at different frequencies
relate to different phenomena, plus there are
substantial variations in the underlying behav-
iour from one fuel-cell type to another.
High-temperature systems, such as solid-
oxide fuel cells, do not suffer from water-man-
agement issues, but they can experience
problems with component stability (at operat-
ing temperatures as high as 1000 °C). On the
other hand, water management is a big
headache in lower-temperature proton-
exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cells, while
cells that undergo internal fuel reformation can
be hampered by carbon-monoxide poisoning
of the precious-metal catalyst. And to compli-
cate matters further, all of these fuel-cell types
can be studied by EIS using the same analyser.
“Because it is such a powerful technique, it
does require a deeper understanding [com-
pared to DC studies],” Harper conceded. “But
the benefits far outweigh the time taken in
learning.” For this reason, Solartron believes it
is vital that test and measurement vendors edu-
cate the market on the subtleties of EIS and
how to get the best results from the technique.
For the time being, Solartron’s EIS products
are aimed at the R&D community, although
Harper believes that there will be a major role
for AC impedance testing in emerging
fuel-cell applications too. “In the PEM fuel
cells that will be used in cars, for example, it
will be crucial to monitor gas-diffusion
membranes and water content during opera-
tion,” he explained.
Siân Harris
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