MECHANICAL/MATERIALS S
Fuel cell catalyst with ultralow Pt loading
Argonne’s LP@PF catalyst substantially reduces platinum usage in fuel cell cathodes through a novel synergetic ORR (oxygen reduction reaction) catalysis design. The MEA (membrane electrode assembly) prepared with this catalyst demonstrates higher fuel cell current and power densities than the commercial benchmarks, even at merely 1/10th and 1/6th of the cathodic Pt loading. It also showed excellent durability during the accelerated stress test, far surpassing commercial benchmarks and multiple DOE 2025 performance targets. LP@ PF catalyst lowers the platinum usage in the fuel cell stack. In fact, an 80-kW fuel cell stack in a passenger sedan using this catalyst will have total Pt loading of less than 7 g, about the same amount as currently used in the catalytic converter of a passenger car with an IC (internal combustion) engine. This low platinum usage will smooth the transition from IC engines to fuel cell in vehicle mass production.
High energy density and safe battery system for powering electric vehicles Microvast — a leading developer and supplier of innovative lithium-ion battery solutions — partnered with Argonne National Laboratory to develop one of the highest-energy-density lithium-ion batteries available for electric vehicles. Microvast and Argonne accomplished this by successfully integrating three advanced battery components while maintaining fast-charging capabilities and critical safety attributes. By designing battery components optimized for performance and safety, Microvast and Argonne developed four state-of-theart products capable of being manufactured in high volume: an improved full gradient cathode with surface doping (invented by Argonne and scaled up by Microvast); an aramid separator that maintains its integrity at very high temperatures (developed by Microvast); a high-capacity silicon anode (developed by Microvast); and a novel pre-lithiation technology that suppresses irreversible losses (invented by Argonne). These breakthrough technologies are key enablers of electric vehicles that can travel long ranges between charges and are safe. These advances also hold significant promise for enabling even higher energy densities — and thus, longer. vehicle range — while maintaining safety and affordability.
Argonne’s fast, high-efficiency Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS) Thermal energy storage system (TESS) rapidly stores heat and releases it on demand so the heat can be put to productive use, thereby greatly increasing the energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness of many industrial processes. TESS is finding many commercial applications because of this and also because of its unique modular design, which permits TESS units to be configured variously as individual modules of different sizes or as assemblages of large numbers of modules. This would be needed to allow baseload electrical plants to store heat energy for later conversion to electrical power to meet peak load requirements and to enable solar power plants to continue generating levelized electrical power during weather events, cloudy days, and nighttime hours. In TESS, heat is stored as the latent heat of fusion of a phase-change material (PCM), with heat transfer causing the material to either melt or solidify as heat is absorbed or released, respectively. The phase-change process is significantly higher in energy density than sensible heat storage, and latent heat storage systems have exceptionally high exergy efficiencies, as well.
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