Grants and Contributions:
Title:
A MATERIALS ACCELERATION PLATFORM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEMBRANE ELECTRODE ASSEMBLIES
Agreement Number:
947500
Agreement Value:
$1,203,433.00
Agreement Date:
Jan 1, 2020 - Jan 31, 2022
Description:
CO2 electrolysis is a promising energy storage technology that uses renewable electricity to convert CO2 into valuable fuels and chemicals. Commercializing CO2 electrolyzers requires the development and optimization of new materials, such as membranes and electrocatalysts. Today, these materials are typically tested in isolation under conditions that are much different than that of an actual electrolyzer (wherein catalysts on gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) are interfaced with membranes in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA)). As a result of this non-representative testing methodology, seemingly promising material candidates may fail to exhibit high performance once integrated into an electrolyzer. MEAs can be tested in benchtop reactors, however existing benchtop approaches for screening materials are inefficient and labour-intensive. The Recipient proposes to circumvent these challenges by designing and building a robotics-based materials acceleration platform (MAP) for MEA development. This MAP will robotically fabricate and characterize GDEs before transferring them to a semi-automated, high-throughput electrochemical testing station where the GDEs will be integrated into MEAs and tested under conditions representative of an operating electrolyzer. To further increase platform productivity, machine learning algorithms will be employed to automatically analyze experimental data and design highly-informative follow-up experiments. This combination of experimental automation and artificial intelligence will result in an autonomous platform for accelerating the development of new, scaleable, and industrially-relevant materials for CO2 applications.
Organization:
National Research Council Canada
Expected Results:
In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems.
Location:
Vancouver, British Columbia, CA V6T 1Z3
Reference Number:
172-2019-2020-Q4-947500
Agreement Type:
Contribution
Report Type:
Grants and Contributions
Recipient Business Number:
108161779
Recipient Type:
Academia
Additional Information:
This agreement has been amended 1 time(s). The end date of this agreements has been modified by 60 days.
Recipient's Operating Name:
The University of British Columbia
Recipient's Legal Name:
The University of British Columbia
Federal Riding Name:
Vancouver Quadra
Federal Riding Number:
59039
Program:
Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives
Program Purpose:
Collaborate on multiparty research and development programs to catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in priority areas.
NAICS Code:
541710