This two volume set of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Technology covers the fundamentals, performance, and in situ characterisation of PEMFCs and DMFCs.

Volume 2: In situ Characterization Techniques for Low Temperature Fuel Cells details in situ characterization, including experimental and innovative techniques, used to understand fuel cell operational issues and materials performance.

Part One covers enhanced techniques for characterization of catalyst activities and processes, such as X-ray absorption and scattering, advanced microscopy and electrochemical mass spectrometry.

Part Two addresses characterization techniques for water and fuel management, including neutron radiography and tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and Raman spectroscopy.

Part Three focuses on locally resolved characterisation methods, from transient techniques and electrochemical microscopy, to laser-optical methods and synchrotron radiography

CONTENTS

Part 1: Advanced Characterization Techniques for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

1. Extended X-ray absorption structure (EXAFS) technique for low temperature fuel cell characterisation

• Basic principles and methods
• Development of techniques
• Application to fuel cell inspection
• Advantages and limitations

2. Advanced microscopy techniques for the characterisation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell components

• Analytical challenges in fuel cell research
• Imaging of the ionomer
• Imaging of electrode porosity
• Imaging of the interface between electrode and gas diffusion layer

3. Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) technique for direct alcohol fuel cell characterisation

• Basic principles, cell design and applications
• Experimental techniques
• Application with respect to fuel cell catalysis
• Advantages and limitations of differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS)
• Fuel cell DEMS and in-line mass spectrometry

4. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell characterisation

• Principles and methods of small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)
• Application of SAXS to fuel cell component characterization

5. X-ray absorption near edge structure (Δμ XANES) techniques for low temperature fuel cell characterisation

• Basic principles, methods and theoretical calculations
• Applications

Part 2: characterization of Water and Fuel Management in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

6. Characterization and modelling of interfaces in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Characterization of interfacial morphology in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs)
• Experimental investigation of interfaces in PEFCs
• Modeling of interfaces in PEFCs

7. Neutron radiography for high-resolution studies in low temperature fuel cells

• Experimental layout of a high resolution neutron imaging beamline
• Image acquisition and analysis

8. Neutron radiography for the investigation of reaction patterns in direct methanol fuel cells

• Principle of neutron radiography imaging
• Development of combined high resolution neutron radiography and local current distribution measurements
• Combined neutron radiography and local current distribution measurements

9. Neutron tomography for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell characterisation

• Complementarity of neutrons and X-rays - Principles of neutron tomography - Limitations and artifacts - Examples of applications

10. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for polymer electrolyte membrane and direct alcohol fuel cell characterisation

• Concepts of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
• Introduction to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• MNR and MRI hardware
• MRI technical considerations
• Adaptation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) design and materials
• Quantification of water content
• General water distribution
• Water in the PEM
• Flow channels
• Hydrogen-deuterium contrast
• Application to direct alcohol fuel cells

11. Raman spectroscopy for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell characterisation

• Raman fundamentals
• Experimental setup
• Raman spectroscopic investigations of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells

Part 3: Locally Resolved Methods for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Characterization

12. Submillimeter resolved transient techniques for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell characterisation: local in situ diagnostics for channel and land areas

• Spatially-resolved characterization of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs)
• Approaches for the evaluation of the lateral current distribution in PEFCs
• Submillimeter-resolved local current measurement in channel and land areas
• Local transient techniques in channel and land areas
• Combined use of local transient techniques and neutron radiography
• Start/stop phenomena in channel and land areas

13. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) in proton exchange membrane fuel cell research and development

• Basics of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM)
• SECM in fuel cell catalyst development and investigation
• Towards the characterization of fuel cell electrodes with SECM

14. Laser-optical methods for transport studies in low temperature fuel cells

• Basic principles, methods and technology
• Development of techniques and application to fuel cell inspection
• Advantages and limitations

15. Synchrotron radiography for high resolution transport and materials studies of low temperature fuel cells

• Ex situ studies
• In situ studies
• In situ synchrotron tomography

Index

Also available
Volume 1: Fundamentals and Performance of Low Temperature Fuel Cells

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