Electrocatalytic Interface Engineering

We synthesis and characterize a wide array of materials for electrodes and membranes. The summary of the capability of these facilities can be found in the links below.

Equipment for catalyst synthesis and characterization

Polymer and membrane synthesis

The heart of many electrochemical processes is the membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA). MEAs are typically fabricated by either (i) depositing catalyst layers directly onto gas diffusion or porous transport layers and then pressing the resulting electrodes onto a membrane or (ii) coating a membrane with a catalyst layer directly and adding the diffusion medium afterwards.

Ink fabrication - catalysts and polymers are formulated into coatable dispersions. For this task, we have a variety of mixing and dispersing options, including vial rollers, magnetic stirring plates, a ball mill, ultrasonic water baths and an ultrasonic horn.

Ink characterization - We can investigate the quality of our particle/polymer dispersions equipment such a with the Zetasizer, Turbiscan tower, pH meter, and viscometer

Coating devices - Our facilities include doctor blades, meyer rods, spraycoaters, an electrospinner, and a slot die coater. More info on this topic can be found here.

Assembly - We use a Collin hot press which uses heat and pressure to ensure good contact between the membrane and electrodes

We employ a variety of commercial and custom-built testing stations to test single cells. We have several Scribner 850e Fuel Cell Testing stations; with various modifications, we test low and high-temperature hydrogen fuel cells, as well as isoproanol/air and acetone/hydrogen fuel cells. The analysis of CO₂ reduction and various water electrolysis technologies is performed in custom-built setups.

We also have a Scribner ETS600 water electrolyzer and employ BioLogic potentiostats for in-depth electrochemical characterization by methods such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry, and cyclic voltammetry. More information on this topic can be found here.

We use optical and electron microscopy for a detailed morphological characterization of materials. A WITec alpha 300 combines confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and enables the chemical-morphological analysis of, e.g., polymers and membranes or the evaluation of the topography of nanostructured samples. CRM gains insights into the chemical composition on the surface of samples and within transparent samples at a resolution of about 1 µm. Raman spectroscopy is used to obtain detailed information on the chemical composition and interactions with other substances, such as the water uptake of a polymer membrane.

Electron microscopy is enabled by our Tescan Vega 3 scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the Zeiss CrossBeam 540 with Gemini II SEM column, a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM). Both microscopes are equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) detectors, and the Zeiss FIB-SEM provides a plethora of additional analysis and sample preparation options. These include an electron backscatter diffraction detector, micromanipulators, a plasma cleaner, a cryo-stage, a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) detector, and the capability to perform 3D imaging by FIB-SEM tomography. After the acquisition of a tomogram, operation-relevant transport parameters of a sample such as a porous electrode can be computed to complement experimental data from cell tests. Sample preparation for TEM and STEM can be performed within the FIB-SEM or with our RMC Boeckeler PowerTome ultramicrotome.

More information on imaging and spectroscopy can be found here.