Study on durability of Pt supported on graphitized carbon under simulated start-up/shut-down conditions for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

The primary issue for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell（PEMFC） is the carbon corrosion of support under start-up/shut-down conditions. In this study, we employ the nanostructured graphitized carbon induced by heat-treatment. The degree of graphitization starts to increase between 900 and 1300 ℃ as evidenced by the change of specific surface area, interlayer spacing, and ID/IG value. Pt nanoparticles are deposited on fresh carbon black（Pt/CB） and carbon heat-treated at 1700 ℃（Pt/HCB17） with similar particle size and distribution. Electrochemical characterization demonstrates that the Pt/HCB17 shows higher activity than the Pt/CB due to the inefficient microporous structure of amorphous carbon for the oxygen reduction reaction. An accelerating potential cycle between 1.0 and 1.5 V for the carbon corrosion is applied to examine durability at a single cell under the practical start-up/shutdown conditions. The Pt/HCB17 catalyst shows remarkable durability after 3000 potential cycles. The Pt/HCB17 catalyst exhibits a peak power density gain of 3%, while the Pt/CB catalyst shows 65% loss of the initial peak power density. As well, electrochemical surface area and mass activity of Pt/HCB17 catalyst are even more stable than those of the Pt/CB catalyst. Consequently, the high degree of graphitization is essential for the durability of fuel cells in practical start-up/shut-down conditions due to enhancing the strong interaction of Pt and π-bonds in graphitized carbon.

Investigating core axial power distribution with multiconcentration gadolinium in PWR

Core axial power distribution is an essential topic in pressurized water reactor(PWR)reactivity control.Traditional PWRs limit stability against axial core power oscillations at a high-cycle burnup.Because the‘‘camel’’peak power shape typically occurs with increasing depletion,the approaches used for the axial power control deserve special attention.This study aims to investigate the performance of different gadolinium rod design schemes in core axial power control during power operation based on the reactivity balance strategy,and to propose new multiconcentration gadolinium rod design schemes.In the new design schemes,low-concentration gadolinium pellets are filled in the axial hump part of the gadolinium rod,and high-concentration gadolinium pellets are filled in the other parts.The impact of different gadolinium rod design schemes on the main core characteristics was evaluated using the nuclear design code package PCM developed by CGN.The results show that the new gadolinium rod design significantly impacts the core axial power shape.The new design schemes can efficiently improve the core axial power distribution along the entire cycle by reducing the core axial power peak at the end of a cycle,enhancing the reactor operation stability,and achieving a better core safety margin,revealing a sizeable potential application.

Fuel Assembly Arrangement Optimization for NHR-200

This study considers optimization of the fuel assembly arrangement in the initial core loading of the 200 MW nuclear heating reactor (NHR-200). The enrichment of the fuel assemblies is used as the control variable with the objective to minimize the power peaking factor. The optimization methods are applied indirectly because it is difficult to directly relate the control variable and the object function in a single equation. Therefore, the solution uses linearized functons which are solved with linear programming. The corrected simplex method is used to solve the optimal problem. Useful engineer software has been designed and used in reactor physics design.