Fuel Cell Laboratory

Our fuel cell laboratory examines the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of fuel cells and is geared towards manufacturers of stack components, stacks and entire fuel cell systems who require scientifically reproducible and detailed results for their products or components.

Our services are designed to optimize components or determine the optimum operating conditions in order to increase performance or service life. We also operate an MEA production laboratory for the development of production processes.

We provide globally unparalleled expertise and equipment in our four specialty areas: (i) in-situ characterization to assess operational performance, (ii) ex-situ analysis to understand microstructures, (iii) MEA production research, and (iv) modeling.

Our Services in this Lab include:

• In-situ characterization of fuel cell MEAs
• In-situ characterization of fuel cell stacks
• Ex-situ analysis of fuel cell MEAs and their individual layers

• fully automated characterization of membrane electrode assemblies and their individual layers in differential test cells using polarization characteristics, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with air/H₂ or N₂/H₂, cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, limiting current density, CO stripping, and CO displacement
• parallel characterization of four differential individual cells is possible
• spatially resolved characterization of local effects on customer-specific, segmented single cells for testing the cell design in full format or in an along-the-channel test cell, for material and component selection, and for the development of operating strategies
• investigation of performance and aging behavior as a function of customer-specific designs and operating conditions
• investigation of the influence of pollutants on the anode or cathode

Characterization of Fuel Cells

• in-situ characterization and sensitivity analyses of fuel cell stacks for power ratings of 4, 10, 20, and 200 kW electrical output
• electrochemical characterization of fuel cell stacks:
  • electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) simultaneously on the entire stack and up to 28 individual cells for measurement of frequency spectra or the temporal impedance curve at discrete frequencies, e.g., HFR
  • galvanostatic charging method (GCM) simultaneously on the entire stack and up to 80 individual cells for calculation of the electrochemically active surface area, the double-layer capacitance, and the hydrogen crossover
  • integration of external measurement technology for spatially resolved recording of the current density distribution is possible
• automated endurance testing with customer-specific load profiles on the anode side, in either flow-through or recycling mode
• development of cold and frost start strategies with experimental validation

Fuel Cell Stacks and Systems

Ex-situ analysis of fuel cell and electrolysis components such as catalyst layers, gas diffusion layers/porous transport layers, membranes, or bipolar plates using:

• focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX)
• inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS)
• X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF)
• NAP-XPS
• laser profilometer
• laser scanning microscopy
• nitrogen physisorption
• corrosion current measurement
• contact resistance measurement
• and more

Characterization of Fuel Cells

Flyer: Hydrogen Technologies Ex-situ Analytics