Report titles:
1)Fuel Cells International? ?Progress
2)Poisoning Mechanism of SOFC Cathodes
3)Probing? ?and Tuning Oxygen Incorporation Reaction on Electrochemical Solid-Gas? ?Interfaces using Synchrotron-based Characterization ?Techniques
Inviter: Prof. Minfang Han(韩敏芳 ?教授)
Abstracts:
1)Both Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) and ?Polymer? Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) have been advancing ?rapidly? worldwide during the last 5 years. The objective of this ?paper is to? describe the main ideas and demonstrations, pointing the ?pathway to? the future.
Asia is leading the world in fuel cells ?at present,? with Japan in front, Korea and China catching up, USA ?competing and? EU far behind. The USA has emphasised large scale ?Combined Heat and? Power (CHP), especially in California where Bloom ?Energy, now worth? $1billion, has been most active delivering hundreds ?of 250kWe ‘energy? server containers’. Japan is ahead in PEMFC car ?sales from Toyota? and Honda, with 100 hydrogen refuelling stations ?operating in 2018.? China has overtaken the EU this year with PEMFC ?buses and shows a? trend towards thousands of Ballard buses by 2020. ?
The key areas? are outlined, illustrating the need for more ?SOFCs in China to? compete with the expanding PEMFC initiatives by ?major companies. In? future, it is likely that SOFCs will be ?integrated with renewable? energy sources in Chinese homes, providing ?high efficiency plus hot? water and saving 1ton of Carbon per home. ?These will improve air? quality in cities as also will battery ?electric vehicles hybridised? with PEMFCs to give rapid filling plus ?long range, with China leading? the world by 2025.
2)Chromium ?(Cr) poisoning is one of the critical degradation issues? to ?commercialize the durable and long-term stable SOFC systems. So? far, ?Cr-poisoning mechanisms are the electrochemical induced Cr-vapor? ?reduction and chemical reaction around the cathode/electrolyte? ?interfaces. Especially at the (La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3/CeO2/ZrO2 interfaces,? ?a significant amount of SrCrO4 is formed at the grain surfaces or? ?triple phase boundaries which affects the reaction rates for oxygen? ?reduction as well as O2- diffusion rates inside the (La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3? ?due to loss of oxygen vacancies. However, in some cases, we found? ?that the surface diffusion of elements caused the evaporation of? ?surface SrCrO4 and formation of LaCrO3 compounds. The rearranged? ?LaCrO3 possess a perovskite oxide structure and it conducts the? ?electron as well as small amounts of oxide ion (O2-). The cathode? ?poisoning has a strong correlation with the Sr diffusion through the? ?CeO2 interlayer and the formation of SrZrO3 at the CeO2/ZrO2? ?interfaces. In this presentation, Cr-poisoning mechanisms are? ?summarized and reviewed. Also, the recovery of Cr poisoning is ?proposed.
3)The oxygen incorporation reaction on solid-gas ?interfaces is? ubiquitous and fundamental in solid-state ?electrochemistry, and the? central reaction for many energy and ?environmental related? applications, such as solid oxide fuel cells ?(SOFCs) and solid oxide? electrolysis cells (SOECs). The ?synchrotron-based characterization? techniques are very powerful ?techniques to study this reaction? because they can probe the ?solid-gas interface at the working? condition of SOFCs and SOECs (high ?temperature, ambient pressure and? under bias). In this talk, I will ?present three case studies: (1) We? studied the correlation between ?strain and surface exchange kinetics,? using our newly developed time ?resolved ambient pressure XPS and? ultra-thin (~2 nm) atomically flat ?ceria films. (2) We demonstrated? how the chemistry and structure of ?the top two atomic layers of the? electrode materials (doped ceria and ?LSF) can impact the surface? redox activity by orders of magnitudes. ?(3) Using (La0.5Sr0.5)FeO3-δ? as the model system, we deconvoluted the ?gas impurity effect and? demonstrated that water vapor rather than CO2 ?or SOx is the primary? culprit of surface degradation, and find that ?water will form? hydroxyl/oxygen which facilitates the strontium ?segregation to the? LSF55 surface. We then fabricated a trilayer ?structure which can? improve the stability up to one order of magnitude.

Brief Biography:
1)Dr. Kevin Kendall FRS
Dr. Kevin Kendall ?is in the British Academy, elected Fellow of the? Royal Society in ?1993.
Kevin Kendall has studied fuel cells for? 40 years, ?publishing 3 books and hundreds of papers. His main? interest has been ?SOFCs. He invented the microtubular SOFC in 1994,? demonstrating that ?rapid start-up could be achieved in less than one? minute. Eight ?companies have been busy commercialising this invention? for use in ?portable power supplies, especially combined heat and? power (CHP) ?integrating with solar and battery components.
He? started ?hydrogen fuel cell activities in Birmingham as Professor at? the ?University in 2000. By 2008 Dr. Kendall had installed the first? ?hydrogen station at the University of Birmingham, with 5 hydrogen? ?fuel cell cars running on campus. He initiated the EU SWARM project? ?in 2011, leading to the installation of the Birmingham hydrogen? ?station with 20 PEMFC buses delivered this year.
In 2009, Dr.? ?Kendall was awarded the largest hydrogen fuel cell training project? ?in the UK, supporting 100 Ph.D. students at Birmingham University,? ?plus cooperation with Nottingham and Loughborough Universities. This? ?project has continued through 2018 and remains the largest Doctoral? ?Training Centre for Hydrogen Fuel Cells in the UK.
In 2015,? Dr. ?Kendall started a project with industry in China to clean up? cities. ?Asia is ahead in both SOFC and PEMFCs. His aim is to promote? ?collaboration by working 50% in China and making contacts between? ?interested players.

2)Dr. Teruhisa Horita
Academic Degrees Obtained ?
March/1990: B.A. of Science, Waseda? University, Tokyo, Japan ?
March/1992: M.A. of Engineering,? Waseda University, Tokyo, ?Japan
March/1998: Ph.D. (Engineering),? Waseda ?University
Research Stay Outside of Japan
November/1998 – ?January/2000?
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow, ?Germany?
Research work at Institut für Werkstoffee der ?Elektrotechnik? (IWE), Universitt Karlsruhe (TH), Karlsruhe, Germany ?(Cooperation? with Prof. E. Ivers-Tiffée)
Complete Professional ?Background
April/1992-March/2001: Research? Scientist, National ?Institute of Materials and Chemical Research? (NIMC) ?
October/2000: Senior research scientist
April? 2002-March ?2012: Associate professor of Graduate School in Kagoshima? University ?
April 2008-May 2013: Group Leader, Fuel Cell? Materials ?Group
June 2013-May 2015: Industrial Science and? Technology ?Investigator at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry? ?(METI)
June 2015-March 2018: Principal Research Manager,? ?Research Institute of Energy Conservation, AIST
April? ?2018-present: Deputy Director, Research Institute of Energy? ?Conservation, AIST
3)Dr. Di Chen
Dr. Di Chen obtained his ?B.S. from Tsinghua University in 2008 and? PhD. from MIT in 2014, both ?from the Department of Materials Science? and Engineering. After ?working in industry for 2 years, he joined? Prof. William Chueh’s ?group in Stanford University as a postdoc in? 2016. He is working on ?developing operando characterization? techniques for electrochemical ?reaction on gas/solid interface, based? on synchrotron light source. ?
During his postdoc in Stanford? University, Dr. Di Chen develops ?advanced characterization techniques? (on Synchrotron) to study the ?fuel cell and battery reaction at the? working condition. Dr. Di Chen ?also develops techniques to synthesis? and characterize the top atomic ?surface of energy materials, to? understand the structure-property ?relationship at atomic scale. He? leads 4 research projects, mentored ?one master student and one high? school students. Resulting 5 papers ?(published or submitted) and 2? invited talks.

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