Special Section on Mass and Charge Transport in Fuel Cells and Metal-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Given the increasing energy demand and carbon dioxide emission, countries all over the world are vigorously developing sustainable and clean energy. Fuel cells and metal-ion batteries that directly convert chemical energy into electric energy have been receiving ever-increasing attention for energy conversion and storage in several applications such as portable, mobile, and stationary applications. Nowadays, not understanding mass and charge transport in fuel cells and metal-ion batteries, which results in low performance and durability, are still challenges for their large-scale commercialization. For example, the insufficient interaction of catalyst/ionomer/reactant as a result of fuel cells lacking the ion-conducting, reactant-delivering, or proton-conducting pathways leads to the deactivated triple-phase boundary. Meanwhile, the metal-ions transport in the interface of solid active materials and electrolyte, and the charge transport including ions transport in the electrolyte, and electron transport in the solid phase, are not well known in advanced metal-ion batteries. An ideal electrode architecture that boosts the performance and durability of cells and batteries needs the electrode design to meet all the requirements of electrochemical kinetics and mass and charge transport characteristics.