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Content archived on 2024-06-16

Nano-Particles for Fuel Cells

Objective

This research aims to produce novel catalysts for fuel cells by understanding the preparation and structure of nanoparticles used in fuel cell anodes and cathodes. The benefit of this project is that it brings together two disciplines: the chemistry of making catalysts and the engineering of the fuel cells in applications.

This is an important thing to do now because fuel cells are not satisfactory in applications like combined heat and power since the catalyst performance is insufficient and too expensive at present.

New catalysts are especially needed in China where carbon dioxide emissions and global warming are set to rise alarmingly in the coming decades. The objective of this project is to develop new high performance and economic nanoparticle catalyst s for fuel cells.

This will involve 5 subsidiary objectives.
- Synthesize nanoparticle catalysts of Pt, Ni and base metals, especially to produce new degrees of aggregation in their structure.
- Characterising the nanoparticles to define the new structures, compositions and processes will be a major part of the project. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and nanosizer dynamic light scattering (DLS) will be the main measurement methods, together with electron microscopy.
- Focus on the interpretation of the promoting effect of added elements such as ruthenium or molybdenum on the nanoparticles, either Pt for PEMFCs or Ni for SOFCs, when synthesized by various techniques. Cells will be made from the new materials and tested.
- Study interaction of the catalysts with the support structures and electrolyte membranes in fuel cell systems.
- Transfer this new knowledge to China where substantial new power generation is needed in the next 20 years.

It is expected that substantial performance improvements and cost reductions will result from this research.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP6-2005-MOBILITY-7
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

IIF - Marie Curie actions-Incoming International Fellowships

Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
EU contribution
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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