Recently, the development of a low carbon society has become a countermeasure against problems of global warming and resource depletion. The use of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) is expected to expand by their incorporation into high-power-density and low-sound-operation vehicles, stationary cogeneration systems, portable power sources, and power sources of information equipment. However, various problems have to be solved to promote their wide use. To fabricate next-generation PEFCs particularly for automobiles, it is necessary to characterize in situ/operando structures and electronic states of the electrode catalyst, adsorbed species and reaction mechanisms at the catalyst surface, and three-dimension spatial distribution of active metals and their valences in PEFC operating conditions as well as the degradation processes. We have constructed a new beamline BL36XU at SPring-8 and have developed the world’s only simultaneous/sequential multi-analysis systems for studying PEFCs, catalytic materials, etc. We succeeded in visualizing the transient-response reaction processes by in situ/operando time-resolved XAFS-XRD, identifying the adsorbed species on electrode catalysts by HR-XANES-2D XAFS and 3D imaging the content and chemical state of Pt cathode catalyst by in situ XAFS-CT.

In situ/operando same-time and same-view multi-visualization of electrocatalysis in polymer electrolyte fuel cell by time-resolved XAFS/XRD, HR-XANES/XRD/2D XAFS imaging and 3D XAFS-CT/STEM-EDS techniques

2019 Fall National Meeting

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