bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
(Invited) Importance of Accelerated Stress Tests in Accelerated Discovery of Energy Materials
Authors: Mukundan Rangachary 
Published: February 2024

Accelerated Stress Tests (ASTs) are critical to the rapid discovery and deployment of new stable materials in electrochemical energy conversion technologies. The widespread use of validated ASTs can spur materials development efforts that address the key shortcomings of today’s materials. An excellent example of the use of ASTs has been in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). This talk will describe the various ASTs that have been utilized to evaluate oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts, catalyst supports and membranes in fuel cells. As better materials get developed, the ASTs have evolved over time to provide quick feedback on the degradation rates of these materials. Finally, the ASTs can also provide insights into the tradeoffs between cost, performance and durability of these electrochemical systems. Results from the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium (M2FCT) will be presented with particular emphasis on heavy duty application of fuel cells. This talk will also address the ASTs that are currently under development for polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). The Department of Energy (DOE) has recently set performance and durability targets for PEMWEs. The Hydrogen from Next generation Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) consortium is currently engaged in developing ASTs for PEMWEs and these results will be presented and discussed. By providing these two specific examples, the importance of ASTs in materials discovery will be highlighted.

Acknowledgement:

This work was supported by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy (DOE). Funding is through the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) consortia, technology managers G. Kleen and D. Papageorgopoulos and Hydrogen from Next generation of Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) consortia, technology manager Dave Peterson.
REFERENCES:

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/technical-targets-proton-exchange-membrane-electrolysis
(Invited) A Practical Approach to Model Development and Validation for High Performance SOFC and SOEC Systems
Authors: Ramanan Ram 
Published: February 2024

Bloom Energy’s mission is to power our planet with resilient, sustainable, and predictable energy. Bloom’s flexible, future-proof technology generates lower-carbon energy today, while laying the foundation for a net-zero tomorrow. As an early employee of the company, I helped create the framework, organizational structure, hired the teams and set the culture of leading product development and innovation through state-of-the-art modeling and data sciences. This framework has resulted in rapid innovation, Design for Manufacturing, Design for Reliability and Cost Reduction initiatives.
The methodology used for rapid innovation and development of high-performance SOFC and SOEC systems is based on a combination of state-of-the-art modeling and data sciences. We use a variety of modeling tools to simulate the performance of our systems and to identify potential areas for improvement. We also use data from our test cells and from customer sites to optimize our designs.
We have achieved significant success with this methodology. We have developed SOFC and SOEC systems that are among the most efficient and reliable in the world. We have also reduced the cost of our systems by nearly a factor of five since we started the company.
In conclusion, we have developed a successful methodology for rapid innovation and development of high-performance SOFC and SOEC systems. This methodology has resulted in significant improvements in the performance and cost of our systems. We are confident that this methodology will continue to enable us to develop innovative and cost-effective energy solutions in the future.
(Invited) Hydrogen Consortium: Technical Progress on Renewable Hydrogen Production R&D
Authors: Dinh Huyen N 
Published: February 2024

HydroGEN Energy Materials Network (EMN) is an U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) EERE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO)-funded consortium that aims to accelerate the discovery and development of advanced water splitting materials (AWSM) for clean, low-cost hydrogen production. This is in line with the H2@Scale initiative, with the goal to meet U.S. DOE’s Hydrogen Shot production cost target of $1/kg H2 within 1 decade (1 1 1). Materials innovations are key to enhancing performance, durability, and cost of hydrogen generation technologies. Large scale, low cost hydrogen from diverse domestic resources can enable an economically competitive and environmentally beneficial future energy system across multiple sectors.
HydroGEN is focused on low technology readiness level AWS technologies, including low- (alkaline exchanged membrane electrolysis) and high-temperature electrolysis (proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis), photoelectrochecmical (PEC) and solar thermochemical (STCH) water splitting. This presentation will provide an overview of the HydroGEN EMN and technical highlights of a few lab-led and FOA-awarded R&D projects. HydroGEN continues to grow its community of industry, university, and national laboratories, forming a national innovation ecosystem focused on renewable hydrogen production.
(Invited) Novel Strategies in the Design of the Oxygen Evolving Catalysts for Water Electrolysis
Authors: Krtil Petr , Nebel Roman , Sharma Lalita 
Published: February 2024

Hydrogen producing electrolytic water splitting is one of the most important electrochemical technologies supporting the de-fossilization of the society and enabling integration of renewable energy sources into electric grid. The water electrolysis in fact combines two electrocatalytic reactions – a two electron hydrogen evolution and four electron oxygen evolution, which in most cases represents the kinetically limiting process determining the efficiency of the green hydrogen production. Given the harsh conditions at which the oxygen evolution is driven in water electrolysers a design of practical oxygen evolving catalysts needs to reflect not only the intrinsic activity, but also stability and feasibility. To reflect these additional factors a specific challenges connected with the pH at which the intended water electrolysis ought to operate need to be included into catalyst design. The development of the anode materials for alkaline water electrolyzers faces less restrictions given reasonable stability of the non-noble transition metal oxides/oxihydroxides at operando conditions. The development of novel anode materials for polymer electrolyte water electrolyzers is far more challenging due the low stability of transition metals at OER potentials in acid media which restricts the available catalysts to those based on scarce Ru, or Mn.
The presented paper will describe two approaches attempting development of novel OER catalysts for acid media. The first approach aims at following the high entropy concept pioneered theoretically by Svane and Rossmeisl [1]. The synergetic effects encountered in high entropy oxides will be demonstrated on mixed Ru-Ir pyrochlores stabilized by lanthanides prepared by spray freeze freeze drying technique. While the high entropy oxides are highly active in OER the need to explore noble metal oxides may still represent a stumbling block in large scale deployment. This restriction may be removed by targeted activation of wide band semiconducting oxides by simultaneous n- and p- co-doping [2]. The co-doping strategy alters the electronic structure of the host oxide generating a pseudo-band in the materials band gap facilitating an electrocatalytic activity (in dark). The concept predicts that a wide band semiconductors based on , e.g. Ti, may be activated into a active OER catalysts potentially compensating a lower intrinsic activity with low price. The potential of the approach will be demonstrated on two systems – co-doped anatase polymorph of TiO2 and on co-doped cubic titanate based perovskites.
References:

K. Svane, J. Rossmeisl, Angew. Chem., 134 (2022), 4923-4925

T. Kutlusoy, S. Divanis, R. Pittkowski, R. Marina, A. M. Frandsen, K. Minhova-Macounova, R. Nebel, D. Zhao, S. F. L. Mertens, H. Hoster, P. Krtil, J. Rossmeisl, Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 13879-13892
(Invited) In Situ Photoelectron Spectroscopy Reveals the Chemical Nature of Semiconductor Surface States
Authors: Favaro Marco 
Published: February 2024

The accessible photovoltage of semiconducting photoabsorbers is typically 0.5-1 V below the theoretically achievable values predicted by the Shockley-Queisser limit [1]. Although the reason for this is still not well understood, surface and interface states within the photoabsorbers energy band gap may play a crucial role as they generally induce Fermi level pinning [2]. Within the PEC community, two key elements have been identified for the maximization of the photovoltage in photoelectrodes for water splitting: (i) the passivation of surface defects which is needed to avoid Fermi level pinning, and (ii) the increase of the minority carrier concentration at the interface to improve contact selectivity and optimize carrier extraction [3,4].
To understand the role of surface defects on Fermi level pinning, detailed information on the chemical nature and electronic properties of surface states is needed. Such information is usually obtained with UHV surface science techniques such as XPS, but the photoelectrode surface under UHV conditions has little, if any, relevance to the electrified surface when immersed in the electrolyte. Moreover, recent studies have shown that semiconductor surfaces are not static, but undergo extensive structural and chemical transformations during PEC device operation [5,6]. In this talk, we will show our recent development of state-of-the-art techniques to study the structure and dynamics of semiconductor/water interfaces under practically relevant conditions [7]. The chemical nature of the electronic states for selected semiconductors prepared at the Institute for Solar Fuels has been explored using synchrotron-based resonant, ambient pressure soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS and AP-HAXPES) [6,8-11], and with in situ/operando Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. In particular, we will show that it is possible to study photon-induced chemical changes at solid/liquid interfaces using AP-XPS and AP-HAXPES [6,8].
We will conclude this contribution by discussing about future perspectives and technical implementations for multimodal in situ/operando investigations of photoelectrocatalytic processes.
[1] M.T. Mayer. Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 2017, 2, 104.
[2] A. J. Bard et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1980, 102, 3671.
[3] A.G. Scheuermann et al., Nat. Mater. 2016, 15, 99.
[4] M. Schleuning et al., Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2022, 6, 3701.
[5] F.M. Toma et al., Nat.
Commun. 2016, 7, 12012.
[6] M. Favaro et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 2018, 122, 801.
[7] M. Favaro et al., Surf. Sci. 2021, 713, 121903.
[8] M. Favaro et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 2021, 54, 164001.
[9] M. Favaro et al., J. Phys. Chem.
C 2019, 123, 8347.
[10] W. Wang et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 17173.
[11] P. Schnell et al., Sol. RRL 2023, 2201104.
(Invited) Challenges with Ceria Diffusion Barrier Layer
Authors: Elangovan S , Hafen Tyler , Rane Taylor , Pike Jenna , Escobar Julian , Marina Olga A 
Published: February 2024

Sr-doped perovskite has been the most commonly used oxygen electrode material for solid oxide cells due to their high conductivity and catalytic activity for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions. Direct contact of the electrode material with the doped zirconia electrolyte leads to formation of resistive Sr- and La-zirconate phases during cell fabrication and long-term operation leads to performance loss. A doped ceria barrier layer is applied between the electrolyte and the oxygen electrode to avoid the reactions that form the resistive phase. The ceria layer is applied using a variety of processes and screen printing is the preferred method as the oxygen electrode also uses the same fabrication option. The barrier layer is sintered at high temperature to target a thin, dense layer. The barrier layer sintering temperature needs to balance good resulting density without any reaction with the electrolyte. The ceria-zirconia solid solution is more resistive than the end members. Thus, it is accepted to limit the sintering temperature which results in a porous barrier layer.
OxEon stacks tested for several thousand hours were post-test analyzed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory using an array of electron microscopes, and Sr migration to the zirconia interface through pores and discontinuity in the barrier layer was confirmed. The use of Sr-free electrode composition between the barrier layer and the Sr-containing electrode layer did not prevent Sr migration to the electrolyte interface when discontinuities are present in the barrier layer.
In addition, the dopant in ceria, samaria in this case, also migrates into zirconia during long-term operation while as fabricated cells do not show migration of samaria.
Investigations are ongoing to improve the density of the barrier layer without deleterious interdiffusion during fabrication.
(Invited) Towards Developing a Highly Efficient and Durable Water Electrolyser with Low-Cost Cell Components
Authors: Gago Aldo Saul , Torrero Jorge , Morawietz Tobias , Garcia Daniel , Friedrich K. Andreas 
Published: February 2024

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production and decarbonization in the chemical industry. However, it is considered expensive due to the high cost of the stack components. Specifically, the titanium bipolar plates (BPPs) and porous transport layers (PTLs) are responsible for a large share of the cost. In prior work, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) addressed the cost issue by using stainless steel as a base material for manufacturing the BPPs of a PEMWE stack. In addition, a Nb/Ti macroporous layer (MPL) applied via plasma spraying enables the use of stainless steel PTL, which not only protects the PTL against corrosion but increases the cell performance significantly (Figure 1a) [1]. A significant cost reduction with stainless steel cell components can be achieved but the high amount of iridium (2-3 mgIr cm-2) in the anode is considered a critical issue for this technology. In this regard, an anode with 10-fold reduction of Ir has been developed recently using a reconstructed Sr2CaIrO6 catalyst, showing practically no degradation in a 1000 h durability test (Figure 1b) [2]. Therefore, a PEMWE with all low-cost components is possible. However, a complete removal of critical raw materials in PEMWE is a long-term development goal, which can be achieved with anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE), as it does not require precious metals as catalysts. AEMWE combines the advantages of PEMWE and alkaline water electrolysis into the next generation of electrolysis technologies. The most recent developments by DLR in this field will also be presented.
Figure 1: a) Cell voltage (Ecell) vs. Current density (j) of a PEMWE with coated stainless steel BPPs and PTLs. The inset shows a cross section image of the catalyst coated membrane (CCM) after an accelerated stress test (AST) showing no Fe contamination; b) Ecell vs. Time of a PEMWE with Sr2CaIrO6 anode (0.2 mgIr cm-2). The insets show images of the electrode and catalyst at the end of the durability test (EoT).
References:
[1] S. Stiber, N. Sata, T. Morawietz, S.A. Ansar, T. Jahnke, J.K. Lee, A. Bazylak, A. Fallisch, A.S. Gago, K.A. Friedrich, A high-performance, durable and low-cost proton exchange membrane electrolyser with stainless steel components, Energy Environ Sci. 15 (2022) 109–122. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ee02112e.
[2] J. Torrero, T. Morawietz, D.G. Sanchez, D. Galyamin, M. Retuerto, V. Martin-Diaconescu, S. Rojas, J.A. Alonso, A.S. Gago, and K.A. Friedrich, High Performance and Durable Anode with 10-fold reduction of Iridium loading for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis, Adv Energy Mater. (2023), in press.

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(Best Student Poster Award) Energy Harvesting from Carbon Dioxide Capture through an Ionic Liquid Based Supercapacitor
Authors: Molino Davide , Zaccagnini Pietro , Martellone Simone , Pedico Alessandro , Ferraro Giuseppe , Bocchini Sergio , Lamberti Andrea 
Published: February 2024

Nowadays, Earth is undergoing effects of climate change due to the exponential increase of greenhouse gasses's emissions. The main component of greenhouse emissions is carbon dioxide (CO2), which is estimated responsible for about 60% of global warming generated by human activities, and its concentration is increased by 40% with respect to the concentration at the beginnings of industrial era. This increase is due to several factors such as the combustion of coal, oil and gas and the progressive deforestation: this last phenomenon generates a sort of bottleneck in the so called biogeochemical "carbon cycle". Deforestation causes the lack of one of the natural regulating sources of carbon dioxide concentration.
Scientific community set an increase of 2°C (with respect to the pre-industrial global temperature) as the threshold beyond which there is a much higher risk that dangerous and possibly catastrophic changes in the global environment will occur. At the moment the increase of the temperature has reached about +0,85°C thanks to greenhouse gasses. All technologies developed in CO2 capturing have to be intended in the reduction of global warming.
The goal of the presented work is to develop a device able to cut down greenhouse emissions by reusing human produced carbon dioxide. This can be done exploiting the free energy released each time two solutions with different compositions are mixed. Even if this phenomenon holds true both for liquids and gases, in last decades it was deeply investigated for what concerns liquid sources (CapMix), while few technologies are available to harvest free energy coming from gas sources. The adopted structure is an electrical double layer super-capacitor based on ionic liquid electrolyte. Special attention should be paid to the choice of the electrolyte which should work both as an electrolyte and CO2 absorbing medium in a CapMix cell. Among the tested ionic liquids, the choice fell on an Imidazole based ionic liquid, which showed excellent absorption rates of gas, being able to capture 15.67% of CO2 over the total mass.
This work is a proof of concept of a novel not yet studied mechanism, which is able to work without any imposed external bias. When a CO2 gas stream is flushed through the supercapacitor, the gas strongly affects the electrode/IL interface and the IL physico-chemical properties, producing a change in the potential difference between the electrodes. In this way it is possible to convert the mixing energy into electrical energy.

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(Invited) A Sustainable Future Fueled By Science: Recent Advances in Power-to-X Activities at Topsoe
Authors: Sala Elena Marzia , Ebbesen Sune Dalgaard , Blennow Peter Gustav , Padinjarethil Aiswarya Krishnakumar , Drasbæk Daniel Bovin , Heiredal-Clausen Thomas , Perin Giovanni , Rass-Hansen Jeppe , Dalby Kim N. , Tiruvalam Ramchandra , Hauch Anne 
Published: February 2024

Topsoe aims at being recognized as the global leader in carbon emission reduction technologies by 2024, by developing a wide range of energy-efficient solutions to produce sustainable transportation fuels, such as ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen. With over 80 years of expertise in heterogeneous catalysis and its application to industrial chemical processes, Topsoe is now striving to develop strong Power-to-X solutions to fuel the transition towards a sustainable chemical industry and energy infrastructure. One of the key-technology that Topsoe has envisioned for such transition is the solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) technology, well-recognized as the most energy-efficient amongst the electrolysis solutions. Here, Topsoe’s expertise in heterogeneous catalysis also plays a role in ensuring an effective downstream catalytic conversion of SOEC products (H2, CO, or syngas) into green fuels and chemicals. To tackle climate change at the pace that our times impose, Topsoe is committing to a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. To reach such an ambitious goal, a large industrial scale application of the SOEC technology is necessary. Accordingly, Topsoe has announced the construction of a SOEC manufacturing facility in Denmark to produce electrolysis stacks and modules with a capacity of 500 MW per year, planned to be operational in 20251.
In this presentation, Topsoe will provide an overview of its initiatives, lines of work and results in the field of SOECs, spanning from the thorough investigation of materials properties and electrode microstructure to the design and realization of a MW-sized electrolyzer plant. An extensive R&D effort is also directed towards increasing the lifetime of Topsoe’s fuel electrode-supported Ni/YSZ based cells, aiming at the development of robust and durable electrodes. The presentation will give examples of the analysis of electrode nano- and micro-structures by advanced characterization techniques, while illustrating the valuable role of impedance spectroscopy for the electrochemical characterization of the state-of-the-art cell performance. Finally, the presentation will also showcase results of stack testing applying Topsoe's stack technology for H2 production, as well as an update and outlook of Topsoe's efforts in upscaling its SOEC capacity.

P. Blennow, T. Heiredal-Clausen, J. Rass-Hansen, J. B. Hansen; M. Hultqvist, and P.-G. Moses, in Proceedings - 14th Europrean Solid Oxide Fuel and SOE Cell Forum, p. A0304 (2022)
Multi-Functional Alkaline Electrolysis Setup for Industrially Relevant Testing of Cell Components
Authors: Maide Martin , Prits Alise-Valentine , Mandati Sreekanth , Küngas Rainer 
Published: February 2024

Alkaline electrolysis is an industrially mature and promising method for the production of green hydrogen at scale [1]. Alkaline electrolysers are typically characterized by low investment costs compared to other electrolysis technologies [2]. Despite being used for industrial applications for almost 100 years, the efficiency of alkaline systems can still be significantly improved. To this end, rigorous testing and optimisation of cell components is paramount.
Here, we report a multi-functional alkaline electrolysis setup, designed to facilitate testing of various cell components, including electrodes, diaphragms, and catalyst. The setup is a further development of the setup originally reported by Ju et al. [3]. Importantly, the setup allows cell components to be tested under industrially relevant conditions: temperatures up to 80°C, concentrated KOH, pressures of up to 30 barg. The setup features KOH recirculation, a drying column and gas analysers for estimating the purity of produced hydrogen and oxygen. The measurement setup further allows the use of different cell configurations, enabling comparative analysis and the identification of optimal combinations of cell components for specific use-cases. Example experimental results collected at various test conditions, including the EU harmonized test conditions for low-temperature electrolysis cells [4], are reported.
References:

Mueller-Langer, E. Tzimas, M. Kaltschmitt, S. Peteves, Int. J. Hydrogen En., 32, 3797–3810 (2007).

Buttler, H. Spliethoff, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, 2440–2454 (2018).

Ju, M. V. F. Heinz, L. Pusterla, M. Hofer, B. Fumey, R. Castiglioni, M. Pagani, C. Battaglia, U. F. Vogt, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 6 (4), 4829–4837 (2018).

Tsotridis, A. Pilenga, EU harmonised protocols for testing of low temperature water electrolysers, EUR 30752 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2021).

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