Edy Herianto Majlan

Fabrication of Porous LSCF-SDC Carbonates Composite Cathode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Applications

Composite cathodes made of perovskite La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF) and SDC carbonates (SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3) were investigated in relation to their structure, morphology, thermal expansion coefficient and porosity. As a first step, the LSCF powder was prepared by sol-gel technique. This was followed by the preparation of the LSCF-SDC carbonates composite cathode by mixing the LSCF with SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 electrolyte via solid state reaction in various compositions, i.e. 30, 40 and 50 wt.%, namely 70LSCF-30SDC7030, 60LSCF-40SDC7030 and 50LSCF-50SDC7030, respectively. The powder mixtures were then calcined at 680oC. The resultant powder was fine with surface area of about 3.39-7.42 m2/g and particle size of 0.56-0.66µm. The powder consists of two distinct phases, i.e. LSCF and SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 as confirmed with x-ray diffraction. The microstructures were observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Increasing the amount of the SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 electrolyte in the composite cathode was found to bring the thermal expansion of the cathode closer to that of the electrolyte. The cathode pellets were later compacted at different pressures (27, 32 and 37 MPa) and sintered at 600oC. The optimum porosity (20.99-24.98%) was achieved for samples with SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 content of 30-50% sintered at 600oC and cold pressed at 37 MPa.

Effects of flow field design on water management and reactant distribution in PEMFC: a review

The performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack is affected by many factors, including the operating conditions, flow field and manifold design, and membrane performance. To achieve the desired PEMFC performance, the reactant must be uniformly distributed and effectively diffused into the catalyst layer for the electrochemical reaction. Water management and reactant distribution in fuel cells are crucial because they affect the distribution and diffusion rate of the reactant. This paper reviews the important research results reported in recent years related to the effects of water and reactant distribution on the performance and life span of PEMFC stacks.

Fabrication of Dense Composite Ceramic Electrolyte SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3

Composite electrolytes made of samarium-doped cerium (SDC, Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9) and (67 mol% Li/ 33mol% Na)2CO3 carbonate salts were investigated in relation to their structure, morphology and porosity of the electrolyte. The fabrication of the SDC–(Li/Na)2CO3 composite electrolytes were achieved in two steps: step (1) preparation of the samarium-doped cerium powders by sol-gel; step (2) mixing of the samarium-doped cerium with carbonates in various compositions by solid state reaction. The electrolyte pellets were compacted at different pressures (25 and 50 MPa) and sintered at 600oC, 700oC and 800oC. The XRD results demonstrated that the introduction of carbonates did not change the SDC phase structure. FESEM images showed that the carbonate component was amorphous and well distributed in the SDC. The lowest porosity (2.92%) was achieved for samples with carbonate content of 30% (SDC7030) sintered at 800oC and cold pressed at 50MPa.

Direct synthesis of nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes on carbon paper for fuel cell electrode

Organic catalyst has recently been identified as the potential substitution for expensive platinum electrocatalyst for fuel cell application. Numerous studies have shown that the nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes (N-CNT) can be synthesized through spray pyrolysis or floating chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique using various type of organometallic as precursors. This paper presents the method of synthesis and the initial findings of the growth of N-CNT directly on carbon paper using a modified CVD technique. In this research, nickel (II) phthalocyanines (Ni-Pc) as precursor was dissolved in ethanol solvent, stirred and sonicated to become homogenized. The solution was poured into a bubbler and heated up to allow the mixture to vaporize. Subsequently, the solution vapor was flowed into the tubical reactor maintained at 900°C. Carbon paper sputtered with nickel nanoparticles was used as the substrate. The synthesized sample was examined through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), At...

Review on serpentine flow field design for PEM fuel cell system

Flow field design has several functions that should perform simultaneously. Therefore, specific plate materials and channel designs are needed to enhance the performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Serpentine flow field design is one of the most popular channel configurations for PEM fuel cell system. Some configurations have been developed to improve the cell performance. This paper presents a review on serpentine flow field (SFF) design and its influence to PEM fuel cell performance based on some indicators of performance. The comparisons of SFF with other flow field designs are summarized. The results of some experimental and numerical investigations are also presented.

Synthesis of palladium-doped silica nanofibers by sol-gel reaction and electrospinning process

Nanofiber is drawing great attention nowadays with their high surface area per volume and flexibility in surface functionalities that make them favorable as a proton exchange membrane in fuel cell application. In this study, incorporation of palladium nanoparticles in silica nanofibers was prepared by combination of a tetraorthosilane (TEOS) sol-gel reaction with electrospinning process. This method can prevent the nanoparticles from aggregation by direct mixing of palladium nanoparticles in silica sol. The as-produced electrospun fibers were thermally treated to remove poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and condensation of silanol in silica framework. PVP is chosen as fiber shaping agent because of its insulting and capping properties for various metal nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the silica fibers and Pd nanoparticles on the fibers. Spun fibers with average diameter ranged from 100nm to 400nm were obtained at optimum operating condition and distribution of Pd nanoparticles on silica fibers was investigated.

Effect of Nickel Composition and Preparation Method for Production of Hydrogen via Glycerol Steam Reforming

The need and development of cleaner and greener alternative technologies using the heterogeneous catalytic system in the synthesis of fuel is very important. In this work hydrogen production via steam reforming of glycerol (C3H8O3) was carried out over nickel supported on hydroxyapatite [Ca5(PO4)3(OH)] as a biomaterial catalyst. The time reaction is carried out for 240 minutes in a fixed-bed reactor fixed at 600 oC and atmospheric pressure with the water-to-glycerol feed ratio of 8:1. Catalysts were prepared by mean of impregnation and sol-gel method with varied nickel loadings (3, 6, 9, 12 %) on hydroxyapatite. The catalysts were characterized by BET surface area, X-ray diffraction, and SEM-EDX techniques. It is found that 3 wt% of nickel loading prepared via sol-gel method exhibit the higher hydrogen production rates (63.62 % - 74.16 %) in comparison to the other nickel loadings.

Porous NiO-SDC Carbonates Composite Anode for LT-SOFC Applications Produced by Pressureless Sintering

Composite anodes made of NiO and SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 were investigated in relation to their structure, morphology, and porosity. As a first step, the anode powder was prepared by mixing the NiO with SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 via solid state reaction in weight percentage of 60 : 40 wt% and in various compositions of carbonates (20 and 30wt%), namely NiO-SDC8020 and NiO-SDC7030, respectively. The powder mixtures were then calcined at 680oC. The resultant powder was fine with surface area of about 13.10-13.70 m2/g and an average particle size of 0.32-0.37µm. The powders consist of two phases i.e. the cubic NiO and face-centered cubic structure SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 as confirmed with x-ray diffraction. The microstructures were observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The anode pellets were later compacted at different pressures (27, 32 and 37 MPa) and sintered at 600oC. The optimum porosity (20.99-24.78%) was achieved for samples of NiO-SDC8020 and NiO-SDC7030 sintered at 600oC and cold pressed at 32 and 37 MPa.

Doping of palladium in silica nanofibers via electrospinning and sol-gel synthesize as hydrogen storage material

In recent years, one dimensional nanostructure, nanowires, nanofibers with unique properties have been a subject of intense research due to reduction of devise dimension, potential properties from the re-arrangement at the molecular level and high surface area. There are many methods for synthesize such as laser ablation, chemical vapour deposition, solution method micro pulling down method but all these method faced to the major disadvantages of being complicated with long wasting time and relatively high expense . The electrospinning recently used for producing ceramic, metal, and carbon nanofibers. In this report, we incorporate palladium into silica nanofibers for the first time, and the effect of doping of palladium into the silica nanofibers is investigated. The different ratio of palladium to silica and comparing with silica nanofibers is also reported. The composition, morphology, structure and surface area of silica, and silica palladium nanofibers were investigated by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Micromeriics. To the best of our knowledge, investigation on characteristic on Silica palladium nanofibers has not been reported up to now. The result reveal that the silica nanofibers compare to silica doped with palladium have lower diameter, and also by increasing the temperature above 600 °C, the reduction in length of nanofibers happened. High surface area of silica palladium nanofibers can be one of the promising materials for hydrogen storage.

Influence of Iron Oxide Nano Particles on Electrospun Poly (Vinylidene Fluride)-Based Carbon Nanofibers on Hydrogen Storage

Electrospun Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) fine fiber of 100-300 nm in diameter in ribbon shape was synthesized through the electrospinning process via sol-gel. In order to synthesize infusible nanofibers all processing of dehydrofluorination and carbonization was investigated. Iron nanoparticles was doped with PVDF nanofibers in order to be effective in surface area, and porosity to increase the hydrogen storage. The composition, morphology, structure and surface area of PVDF/Iron Oxide nanofibers were investigated by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) to determinate the temperature of possible decomposition and crystallinity, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Micromeritics (ASAP2020) used to study the textural properties of the sample, like surface area, total pore volume, and micro pore volume. The result shows that the PVDF without dehydrofluorination treatment for infusibility become melt at around 160 °C. By adding the iron oxide nanoparticles as a catalyst it can improve the characteristic of the carbon fiber for hydrogen storage. In best of our knowledge, PVDF doping with iron oxide investigated for first time.