What is Fuel Cell Spraying?
Introduction of Ultrasonic Spray Coating:
Ultrasonic spraying is achieved through ultrasonic atomization technology. The energy of ultrasonic waves disperses water or liquid, forming particles with sizes ranging from several micrometers to 100 micrometers, which allows ultrasonic waves to be applied in spraying. FUNSONIC uses the domestic leading ultrasonic atomization technology to provide different types of atomization nozzles to help determine the size of droplets, liquid flow rate and spray mode, and the whole machine is sprayed in all directions to meet various needs.
Applied to fuel cell catalyst coatings:
The ultrasonic fuel cell catalyst coating system is particularly suitable for these challenging applications by manufacturing highly uniform, repeatable, and durable coatings. Our ultrasonic spraying machine's non clogging technology can better control coating properties, significantly reduce material usage, and reduce maintenance and downtime.
The ultrasonic coating system produces a highly durable and uniform carbon based catalyst ink coating during the electrolysis process of fuel cells and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers (such as Nafion) without causing membrane deformation. A uniform catalyst coating is deposited on PEM fuel cells, GDL, electrodes, various electrolyte membranes, and solid oxide fuel cells. The suspension contains carbon black ink, PTFE adhesive, ceramic slurry, platinum, and other precious metals. Other metal alloys, including platinum, nickel, iridium, and ruthenium based fuel cell catalysts, metal oxide suspension coatings can be used for ultrasonic spraying in the manufacturing of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis cells, DMFC (direct methanol fuel cells), and SOFC (solid oxide fuel cells), which can generate maximum load and high cell efficiency.
The catalyst solution will not clog the ultrasonic nozzle, with a uniform fuel cell catalyst coating that controls droplet size from ultra-low flow rate to production scale flow rate. Our ultrasonic nozzle is very suitable for spraying polymer solutions such as PTFE adhesive onto GDL to enhance hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity during the electrolysis process.
Advantages of ultrasonic nozzles for spraying fuel cell catalyst coatings:
1. Extremely high platinum utilization rate; Up to 90%.
2. The high porosity coating is very durable and can prevent cracking or peeling of the catalyst layer.
3. Up to 50% reduction in material consumption and over spraying, saving expensive catalyst ink.
4. Clean and accurate spray mode, easy to form various applications.
5. Highly controllable spray to produce reliable and consistent results.
6. No blockage, atomization, spray and deviation.
7. Ultra low flow capacity, intermittent or continuous.
8. Ultrasonic vibration continuously breaks down agglomerated particles, making them evenly dispersed; Maximize platinum utilization.
9. Able to coat proton exchange membranes with very small liquid sample sizes (coating multiple proton exchange membranes only requires 10ml of catalyst solution). Very suitable for the research and development stage.
When the ultrasonic nozzle continuously vibrates along the length of the nozzle, it moves downwards along the nozzle body to separate the aggregated particles, thus making the most effective use of functional particles. The use of ultrasonic spraying to decompose agglomerates into uniformly dispersed catalyst layers can improve the electrochemical performance and repeatability of functional coatings.
