High performance cathode for protonic ceramic fuel cells
R&D Focus Areas:
Electricity, Technology integration process improvement
Lead Organisation:
University of Queensland
Partners:
Not applicable
Status:
Active
Start date:
January 2025
Completion date:
January 2028
Key contacts:
Professor John Zhu: z.zhu@uq.edu.au
Funding:
AUD$578,296 – Australian Research Council (ARC – Discovery Projects grant, at announcement)
Project total cost:
Refer to above funding for ARC component.
Project summary description:
Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) are a promising low emission technology that uses the chemical energy stored in the fuels to produce electricity at 400 to 600 degree C, with high energy efficiency, high fuel flexibility and low cost. However, capitalising on these advantages of PCFCs is challenging because of the lack of cathode materials that can maintain an efficient and stable catalytic activity.
This project aims to develop a novel cathode for PCFCs with high activity and high stability; the cathode would be expected to improve the density of active sites and resist degradation due to the cathode reaction environment. The key novelty is to modify the mixed conductive perovskite bulk with surface alkali metal melts that can transport ions and reactivate the surface. Expected outcomes include enhanced efficiency of power generation and new techniques to develop high-performance catalyst materials, which are essential for energy conversion and thermal catalysis.
The developed high performance perovskite cathode materials may have applicability in applications such as membrane reactor for hydrogen production, CO2 electrolysis and solid oxide batteries, etc.
Publications and key links:
Grant – Grants Data Portal
Higher degree studies supported:
One PhD, three Honours students and one post-doctoral researcher are to be supported by this project.
July 2025