Open Competition 5 - Chemistry and Materials

Development of High Volume Digital Manufacturing of Membrane Electrode Assemblies for Fuel Cells

Sponsor: Cabot Superior MicroPowders (formerly Superior MicroPowders, LLC)

• Project Performance Period: 7/1/2002 - 6/30/2005
• Total project (est.): $3,201,953.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,984,165.00

The leading rechargeable, portable power source is currently the lithium-ion battery, a market that is dominated by Asian firms. An alternate power source that could offer greater energy density as well as "instant recharging" -- if significant technical and cost barriers can be overcome -- is liquid-feed direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). This type of fuel cell converts a simple alcohol, methanol, into electricity and water by reacting it with the oxygen from air. Liquid-feed fuel cells are well suited to low-power consumer electronic devices. In a three-year project, Superior MicroPowders plans to design and demonstrate practical DMFCs by developing low-cost membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The MEA is the most critical component of a fuel cell -- and the source of 40 percent of the manufacturing cost. The proposed MEAs will reduce the amount of expensive precious metals (such as platinum) used as catalysts. They will be deposited with a high-volume, digital ink-jet printing process in a three-dimensional pattern to minimize fuel loss and other inefficiencies. The key innovation is the formulation of, and developing printing technologies for, ink-jet printing of functional inorganic materials such as electrocatalysts. The company will use a spray-based process to make electrocatalyst powders that can be deposited by ink-jet printing. These powders will have increased surface area compared to catalysts prepared by traditional methods, increasing catalytic activity (and reducing the precious metal content) by more than an order of magnitude. Major subcontractors will include Computational Fluid Dynamics Research Corp. (Huntsville, Ala.), which will develop simulation models to guide the design of MEAs; and Motorola Labs (Tempe, Ariz.), which will help design the MEAs and integrate them into DMFC systems for testing. Spectra Inc. (Lebanon, N.H.), a leading piezoelectric ink-jet printhead manufacturer, will collaborate in the development of the ink-jet printing system. ATP support is needed because the research is viewed as high risk, though with a potential for high payoff. If successfully developed, the new technology would displace or augment lithium-ion batteries and give the United States a share of the portable power source market. It also would reduce dependence on foreign sources of precious metals and offer an environmentally superior alternative to batteries (DMFCs can be recycled). The first market will be chargers for batteries in two-way radios and cell phones. In addition, the printing process developed in this project could be used in making other products, such as batteries, supercapacitors, and sensors, and also in the electronics industry.

For project information:

Mark Hampden-Smith, (505) 342-1492
mhs@smp1.com

ATP Project Manager

Richard Bartholomew, (301) 975-4786
richard.bartholomew@nist.gov