Swedish researchers to improve fuel cell lifespan
The Swedish team of scientists explains that hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles only have a relatively short service life “because fuel cell components, such as electrodes and membranes, degrade over time”. The researchers are focussing primarily on heavy commercial vehicles, which have to be able to withstand 20,000 to 30,000 hours of driving, which they say fuel cell versions are currently unable to do.
The researchers have succeeded in analysing how the material in the fuel cell degrades at both the nano and micro levels and determining exactly when and where the degradation takes place. They say this provides valuable information for the development of new and improved fuel cells with a longer service life.
“It has previously been assumed that the performance would be affected by the fuel cell being disassembled and studied in the way we have done, but it turned out that this assumption is not correct, which is surprising,” said research leader Björn Wickman, Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Chalmers.
“From previously only looking at how the fuel cell has aged after use, we have now been able to look into the middle stage,” says doctoral student Linnéa Strandberg at Chalmers. “Being able to follow a single, chosen particle within a specific area, provided a much better understanding of the degradation processes. Greater knowledge of these is an important step on the way to designing new materials for fuel cells or to adjust the control of the fuel cell.”
The research work was subsidised by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and the Swedish Research Council and presented in three different scientific articles, including in the Journal of Material Chemistry. According to Björn Wickman, a basis has now been created for the development of better fuel cells: “We have now laid a foundation on which to build for the development of better fuel cells. Now we know more about the processes that take place in the fuel cell and at what point over the lifetime of the fuel cell they occur. In the future, the method will be used to develop and study new materials that can give the fuel cell a longer lifespan.”
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