New Electrode Materials for Batteries and Fuel Cells

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a novel process to making proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrodes using carbon nanofibers. The innovation put forth in this proposal is the use of electrospinning to fabricate a nanoscalefiber network with both the interconnectivity and the surface area properties of ultrahigh aspect ratio fiber networks. Electrodes fabricated from nanoscale fiber networks will have higher internal electrode surface area for electrocatalytic reaction andgreater electronic connectivity for more complete electrode utilization at lower mass loadings than currently used carbon microparticle (1 to 5 microns) electrodes. Because of the low percolation thresholds of nanoscale fiber networks, carbon massloadings can be reduced allowing the fabrication of electrodes with higher ionic conductivity and gas diffusion. This Phase I program will demonstrate enhanced performance of the carbon nanofiber electrodes. The success of this Phase I program will resultin a high performance electrod for PEM fuel cells which have both mobile and stationary power applications in industrial and military sectors.