Electron crystallography has been proven to be effective for structure determination of nano- and micron-sized crystals. In the past few years, 3D electron diffraction (3DED) techniques were used for the structure solution of various types of complex structures such as zeolites, metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and pharmaceutical compounds. However, unlike X-ray crystallography, electron diffraction has not yet become an independent technique for a complete structure determination due to relatively poorer diffraction intensities and often powder X-ray diffraction data are used for structure validation and refinement. Electron beam damage to the structures that are sensitive to high energy electrons and dynamical scattering are important factors to lead to the deviation of electron diffraction intensities from the squared amplitudes of the structure factors. In this thesis, we investigate various aspects around the 3D electron diffraction data quality and strategies for obtaining better data and structure models. We combined 3D electron diffraction methods and powder X-ray diffraction to determine the structure of an open-framework material and discussed the difficulties and limitations of electron diffraction for beam sensitive materials. Next, we illustrated the structure determination of a pharmaceutical compound, bismuth subgallate, using 3D electron diffraction. While severe beam damage and diffuse scattering were observed in the dataset collected with the conventional rotation electron diffraction (RED) method, the continuous rotation electron diffraction (cRED) method coupled with sample cooling significantly improved the data quality and made the structure solution possible. In order to better understand the potentials and limitations of the continuous rotation method, we collected multiple datasets from different crystals of a known structure and studied the data quality by evaluating the accuracy of the refined structure models. To tackle dynamical scattering in electron diffraction data, we explored a routine for structure refinement with dynamical intensity calculation using RED data from a known structure and discussed its potentials and limitations. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

The Swedish steelmaking industry produces large amounts of by-products. In 2008, the total amount of slag produced reached approximately 1,300,000 metric tons, of which 20% was deposited. Due to its strength, durability and chemistry, steel slag is of interest in the field of construction, since it has similar or better qualities than ordinary ballast stone, which makes it a competitive construction material. However, some steel slags face an array of quality concerns that might hinder their use. These concerns generally involve the following physical and chemical properties:Volume expansion Disintegration Leaching of metalsBy controlling and modifying process parameters during slag handling in liquid state, the physical and chemical properties of steel slags can be adequately modified to obtain a high-quality product for external application. The present work was undertaken as a research project within the Minerals and Metals Recycling Research Centre, MiMeR. The major goal of this work has been to investigate how different treatment methods including hot stage processing, cooling rates, ageing time and chemical composition influence the final properties of the slag. Analysis techniques used in this investigation include: thermodynamic calculations using FactsageTM, X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), leaching tests (EN12457-2/3) and thermo-gravimetric analyses (TG).The results from this study show that it is possible to control/change the properties of the final product by additions to the liquid slag, thereby changing the chemical composition, as well as by varying the rate and method of cooling. The mineralogical composition, the size of the crystals and the composition of some solid solutions are affected by the cooling rate. The solubility of elements such as chromium and molybdenum varies, probably due to their presence in different minerals. The reactivity of the investigated slag samples increases as the cooling rate increases.When steel slags are aged, the leaching properties of the materials are changed. The total leachability and the pH decrease for all the investigated samples. All elements except magnesium decrease in leachability. As the slags are aged CaCO3 is formed on the slag surfaces. The degree of carbonation differs between different slags, due to the presence of different calcium-rich minerals in the slag. In order to form CaCO3, the calcium-containing mineral must be dissolved. This means that the solubility of the calcium-containing mineral will affect the outcome of the carbonation. The rate of dissolution for six typical slag minerals was investigated in order to distinguish the difference in solubility between the different minerals. Acidic to alkaline pHs (4, 7 and 10) were selected to investigate the solubility of the minerals under conditions comparable to those prevailing in newly produced slags and the potential future pH values obtained under acid conditions. It can be concluded that all six minerals behave differently when dissolving and that the rate of dissolution is generally slower at higher pH. At pH 10, the solubility of merwinite, akermanite and gehlenite is considered slow. The dissolution of γ-Ca2SiO4 is not affected in the same way as the other minerals when the pH is changed. / Godkänd; 2010; 20101213 (fren); DISPUTATION Ämnesområde: Processmetallurgi/Process Metallurgy Opponent: Professor Pekka Taskinen, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Aalto University, Finland Ordförande: Professor Bo Björkman, Institutionen för TKG, Avd för mineralteknik och metallurgi, Luleå tekniska universitet Tid: Fredag den 4 februari 2011, kl 10.00 Plats: F341, Luleå tekniska universitet

I detta arbete har elektrokemisk impedansspektroskopi använts för att producera reproducerbara impedansdata för katodmaterialet NMC811. Data som skulle kunna användas som basen för parametrisering och konstruktionen av en fysik-baserad modell. Dessutom har effekten av laddningstillstånd, temperatur, och historian av cellen på impedansen undersökts. Baserat på resultaten av preliminära test så har experiment konstruerats i vilka katodens impedans i en NMC811//Grafit cell har undersökts vid olika temperaturer och laddningstillstånd, både efter laddning och urladdning av cellen. Reproducerbara resultat kunde erhållas och det visades hur laddningstillstånd och temperatur har en stor påverkan på impedansen. Tyvärr så kunde inget sägas om hystereseffekten på grund av dålig stabilitet i lågfrekvensområdet av impedansmätningarna. / In this work, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy has been used to try and produce reproducible impedance data for the cathode material NMC811. Data that could serve as the basis of parameter extraction for the construction of a physics-based model. Furthermore, the effect of state of charge, temperature, and history of the cell on the impedance has been analysed. Based on the results of preliminary tests, an experimental cycle was constructed in which the cathode impedance of a NMC811//Graphite cell was measured at varying temperatures and state of charge, both following charge and discharge of the cell. Reproducible results were achieved, and it was shown how the state of charge and temperature of the cell had a major effect on the measured impedance. Unfortunately, no conclusions could be made about the history effect on impedance due to poor stability in the low frequency regions of the impedance measurements.

The endeavor to have more efficient solar cells and as environmentally beneficial as possible are the driving forces for this work. The way to reach this is by research to better the understanding of the mechanisms and parameters that govern the performance of solar cells. New materials are essential to develop because the current ones lack stability and are water, temperature and UV-radiation sensitive. In this work the lead (Pb2+), which is poisonous and hazardous is intended to be replaced in the organic metal halide (OMH) perovskite structure. This is tested with gold or silver combined with bismuth and silver by itself. Also trimethylsulfonium gold or silver iodides are investigated. The methylammonium cation is also substituted to cesium. The perovskite material both absorbs light and transports charges in the solar cells. Materials based on AuI/AgI, BiI3 and CH3NH3I and AuI/AgI and [Me3S]I and AgI, BiI3 and CsI were synthesized and analyzed by XRD on thin film and mesoporous substrate and Raman spectroscopy to determine material structure and bonding. J-V measurements were performed to see the function in solar cells. After this conductivity and absorption parameters were determined by an electrical conductivity test and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. XRD measurements indicate that the perovskite structure could have been obtained because the materials match with the XRD spectra of [20] foremost T3, T5 and T6, Cs1 and Cs2. In T7 some new structure is formed. The bismuth could be partially substituted by silver as the metal cation. The samples are quite amorphous, but still containing crystalline peaks, the product material could be a mixture of a crystalline and an amorphous phase. The crystalline phase could have the desired perovskite structure. To have mesoporous TiO2 as substrate seem to enhance a more crystalline structured material. All the materials seem to have formed some new structures because the pure reactants does not seem to be present, exceptions could be P1 and T1 that contained AuI. The change of cation from methylamine to cesium though results in a shift of the peak positions because of the change of cation size as in [20], but the structure is most likely the same. Raman spectroscopy indicate that there is a change in structure, some new bond being present, when increasing the methylamine ratio for the presumed methylammonium silver bismuth iodide perovskites. This concerns materials T5, T6, T7 with increasing ratio of methylamine. This new bond is most pronounced in T7 where the methylamine content is the highest. Both Silver and bismuth iodide bonds seem to be present and cannot be coupled to be the pure reactants recrystallizing and some new bonds of these are present in all materials to some extent. The organic bond vibration has low intensity and might indicate that there is not so much organic cation present in the product and thus the probability of having the desired product anion decreases. The solar cells made with Spiro-OMeTAD were 700-4000 times more efficient than those made with Sulphur polymer HTM. Solar cells made with Spiro-OMeTAD as HTM gives slightly higher efficiency when increasing the methylammonium cation ratio. For cesium as cation the combined metal cation constellation with bismuth and silver gives a little higher efficiency than bismuth alone. Methylammonium as cation gives a higher efficiency than cesium. Solar cells made with Sulphur polymer HTM show approximately 3-30 times higher efficiency with methylammonium as cation compared to cesium as cation. HTM material seem to affect the perovskite material making some of the cells completely transparent and some of them paler, water in the solvent chlorobenzene can be a possible explanation. The transparency can be the reason for the low efficiency obtained for the solar cells. Also the measurement methodology of these solar cells can also have been false, measuring the contacts, and the etching procedure could be another source of this. The solar cells had quite low efficiencies compared to [20], although same presumed material and procedure has been used and thus there might be something wrong in the accuracy of the manufacturing. The cells should probably been made several times and possible sources of error should be analyzed and corrected for. The materials were all relatively conductive. P1 gave the highest conductivity, almost three times higher than for methylammonium lead iodide that has a conductivity of 1,1x10-4 s/cm [3]. Increasing the methylammonium ratio gave an increase of the conductivity both with bismuth and silver as metal cations and silver alone. The increase of the methylammonium ratio might result in a new structure formed which has lattice planes that are more conductive. A change of gold to silver for the trimethylsulfonium iodide materials gave a large decrease in conductivity. The materials have different absorption curves meaning that they have different bandgaps and this indicates differences in structure. The bandgaps of all materials are indirect contrary to what is proven to be the case for perovskites that are believed to have direct bandgaps in general. To have indirect bandgaps requires a shift in momentum in the electronic transitions and is not as beneficial as having direct bandgaps. Compared to methylammonium lead iodide that has a direct bandgap of 1,6 eV, the bandgaps are at least 0,5 eV higher and range between 2,2-2,36 eV. P1 had a low bandgap of 1,6 eV meaning it absorbs a wide range of wavelengths. The conductivity does not seem to be the obstacle and the cells that are not transparent absorb light. It is highly possible that the low solar cell performance, at least to a certain extent, has to do with the production process. The low scan rate could also affect the low efficiencies and HTM Spiro-OMeTAD should be used. Currently the efficiency of the perovskite materials with silver/bismuth, gold/bismuth and silver are too low, and not able to substitute lead in the perovskite structure solar cells. Neither trimethylsulfonium gold or silver iodide cells nor cesium perovskites have enough efficiency at present. The conductivities for the materials are promising and the materials that are not completely transparent absorb light. / Strävan att utveckla effektivare solceller och så miljövänliga som möjligt är drivkrafterna för det här arbetet. För att uppnå detta krävs forskning för att förbättra förståelsen för vilka mekanismer och parametrar som styr hur väl solcellerna fungerar. Det är nödvändigt att ta fram nya material, då de nuvarande brister i stabilitet, de är framförallt känsliga för vatten, temperatur och UV-strålning. I det här arbetet är syftet att byta ut bly (Pb2+), som är giftig och kopplad till hälsorisker, i den organiska metall halid (OMH) perovskit strukturen. Detta görs med guld eller silver i kombination med vismut och silver självt. Även trimetylsulfonium- guld eller silver undersöks. Metylammonium katjonen substitueras också mot cesium. Perovskit material absorberar både ljus och transporterar laddningar i solceller. Material baserade på AuI/AgI, BiI3 och CH3NH3I and AuI/AgI och [Me3S]I and AgI, BiI3 and CsI syntetiserades. Dessa analyserades, med XRD på dels ett substrat av tunn film och dels ett mesoporöst och Raman spektroskopi, för att bestämma strukturen på materialet och bindningar. J-V mätningar utfördes för att se hur materialen fungerade som solceller. Efter detta utfördes mätningar av konduktiviteten och absorptions parametrar bestämdes genom ett elektriskt konduktivitetstest respektive UV-vis absorptions spektroskopi. XRD mätningarna indikerar att perovskit strukturen kan ha erhållits eftersom spektrumen överensstämmer med de i [20], framförallt för T3, T5 och T6, Cs1 och Cs2. I T7 bildas någon ny struktur. Vismut skulle kunna vara delvis utbytt mot silver som metalkatjon. Proven är relativt amorfa, men uppvisar kristallina toppar och produkten skulle kunna vara en blandning av en kristallin och amorf fas, där den kristallina fasen skulle kunna ha den eftersträvade perovskit strukturen. Mesoprös TiO2 som substrat verkar öka graden av kristallinitet hos materialen. Samtliga material verkar ha bildat någon ny struktur eftersom reaktanterna i sin rena form inte verkar finnas. Undantag skulle kunna vara P1 och T1, vilka innehåller AuI. Bytet av katjon från metylammonium mot cesium resulterar i ett skifte av topparna troligen beroende av skillnaden i storlek mellan katjonerna, liksom påvisas i [20], men strukturen är förmodligen densamma. Raman spektroskopin indikerar en förändring i strukturen, någon ny bindning finns, hos materialen när metylammonium andelen ökas för de förmodade metylammonium silver vismut jodid perovskiterna. Detta gäller materialen T5, T6, T7, där andelen metylammonium ökar. Den nya bindningen är mest uttalade i T7, där metylammonium andelen är den högsta. Både silver och vismut jodid bindningar verkar finnas och kan inte kopplas till att de rena reaktanterna har rekristalliserats och nya bindningar av dessa finns i alla material till en viss grad. Den organiska bindningens vibration har låg intensitet och kan tyda på att det inte finns så mycket organisk katjon i produkten och således minskar sannolikheten att ha den eftersträvade anjon produkten. Solcellerna gjorda med Spiro-OMeTAD var 700-4000 gånger mer effektiva än dom gjorda med Svavel polymer HTM. För solcellerna gjorda med Spiro-OMeTAD som HTM ger en ökning av metylammonium katjon andelen en ökad effektivitet. För cesium som katjon med den kombinerade metalkatjon konstellationen med vismut och silver, blir effektiviteten högre än om vismut är metalkatjon självt. Metylammonium som katjon ger en högre effektivitet än cesium. Solceller gjorda med Svavel polymer HTM visar ungefär 3-30 gånger högre effektivitet med metylammonium som katjon jämfört med cesium som katjon. HTM materialet verkar påverka perovskit materialet och göra några av cellerna helt transparenta och de andra blekare. Klor benzen användes som lösningsmedel och denna kan ha innehållit vatten och kan vara orsaken till färgskiftningen. Detta kan vara orsaken till den låga verkningsgraden som erhölls för solcellerna. En annan möjlig förklaring skulle kunna vara metoden för mätningarna. Denna kan ha varit felaktig, då kontakten troligen har varit det som har mätts och etsningsprocessen skulle kunna vara en orsak till detta. Solcellerna uppvisar ganska låg effektivitet i jämförelse med [20], trots att samma material och procedur har använts och således kan det vara något fel i precisionen av framställningen. Cellerna skulle förmodligen gjorts om ett antal gånger och möjliga felkällor borde utretts och åtgärdats. Materialen var överlag relativt konduktiva. P1 gav den högsta konduktiviteten, nära tre gånger högre än metylammonium bly jodid, som har en konduktivitet på 1,1x10-4 s/cm [3]. En ökning av andelen metylammonium gav en ökning av konduktiviteten både med vismut och silver som metalkatjon och silver självt. Ökningen av andelen metylammonium skulle kunna resultera i ett en ny struktur uppkommer som har plan som är mer konduktiva. Utbytet av guld mot silver för trimetylsulfonium jodid materialen gav en markant sänkning av konduktiviteten. Materialen har olika absorptionskurvor vilket innebär att de har olika bandgap och detta indikerar olikheter i strukturen. Bandgapen för alla material är indirekta, trots att bandgapen för perovskiter i regel är direkta. Att ha indirekta bandgap kräver ett skifte i momentum i de elektroniska energiöverföringarna och är inte så fördelaktigt som att ha direkta bandgap. I jämförelse med metylammonium bly jodid, som har ett direkt bandgap på 1,6eV, är bandgapen minst 0,5 eV högre och varierar mellan 2,2-2,36 eV. P1 hade ett lågt värde på bandgapet, 1,6 eV, vilket innebär absorption av ett brett spektrum av våglängder. Konduktiviteten verkar inte vara den faktor som är orsaken till den låga effektiviteten hos solcellerna och de celler som inte är transparenta absorberar ljus. Det är högst troligt att den låga effektiviteten har sin förklaring, åtminstone delvis, i produktionsprocessen för solcellerna. Den relativt låga skanningshastigheten kan också vara en orsak för den låga effektiviteten och HTM Spiro-OMeTAD bör användas. I dagsläget är effektiviteten för perovskitmaterialen med silver/vismut, guld/vismut och silver för låg och har inte möjlighet substituera bly i perovskit solceller. Inte heller trimetylsulfonium guld eller silver jodid cellerna och inte heller cesium perovskiternas effektivitet räcker till i dagsläget. Konduktiviteten för materialen är lovande och materialen som inte är transparenta absorberar ljus.

In polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) chemical energy, in for example hydrogen, is converted by an electrochemical process into electrical energy. The PEFC has a working temperature generally below 100 °C. Under these conditions water management and transport of oxygen to the cathode are the parameters limiting the performance of the PEFC. The purpose of this thesis was to better understand the complex processes in different parts of the PEFC. The rate-limiting processes in the cathode were studied using pure oxygen while varying oxygen pressure and humidity. Mass-transport limitations in the gas diffusion layer using oxygen diluted in nitrogen or helium was also studied. A large capacitive loop was seen at 1-10 Hz with 5-20 % oxygen. When nitrogen was changed to helium, which has a higher binary diffusion coefficient, the loop decreased and shifted to a higher frequency. Steady-state and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) models have been developed that accounts for water transport in the membrane and the influence of water on the anode. Due to water drag, the membrane resistance changes with current density. This gives rise to a low frequency loop in the complex plane plot. The loop appeared at a frequency of around 0.1 Hz and varied with D/Lm2, where D is the water diffusion coefficient and Lm is the membrane thickness. The EIS model for the hydrogen electrode gave three to four semicircles in the complex plane plot when taking the influence of water concentration on the anode conductivity and kinetics into account. The high-frequency semicircle is attributed to the Volmer reaction, the medium-frequency semicircle to the pseudocapacitance resulting from the adsorbed hydrogen, and the low-frequency semicircles to variations in electrode performance with water concentration. These low-frequency semicircles appear in a frequency range overlapping with the low-frequency semicircles from the water transport in the membrane. The effects of current density and membrane thickness were studied experimentally. An expected shift in frequency, when varying the membrane thickness was seen. This shift confirms the theory that the low-frequency loop is connected to the water transport in the membrane. / <p>QC 20121011</p>

The reversible reduction of hexacyanoferrate(III) to the Fe(II) form is a well-known standard in electrochemistry. It is however reported to be highly dependent on the solvent environment.[i] This electrochemical project has aimed to examine the behaviour of ferricyanide in aprotic environment by changing the solvent to acetonitrile, a medium polar solvent with a high dielectric constant. The method used for research is cyclic voltammetry. Ferricyanide has been examined in aqueous and aprotic solvent and has been studied in comparison to ferrocene, which is a well-known chemical substance. When studying ferricyanide in acetonitrile solvent under inert conditions, a completely new voltammetric picture was drawn where the standard reduction potential in aqueous solvent of 43 mV (SCE) was dramatically lowered and a new redox reaction with a higher reduction potential seemed to be present at -97mV (Ag/Ag+) when ferricyanide went through redox process from 0 V to +1.3 V to -0.5 V and back to 0V again. When examining the redox process an EC reaction was found to be coupled to the new peak. This process was studied within the time limit for the project. Some properties of the possible chemical has been presented and the conclusions are discussed in the report. Suggestions are made for how to move forward with the research. [i] (a) Gutmann V., Gritzner G., and Danksagmuller K., Inorganica Chimica Acta, 17 1976 81; (b) Noftle R.E. and Pletcher D., Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 1990 273, 293.

A hetero-bimetallic alkoxide CrAl3(OiPr)12 was synthesised through metathesis of achromium(III)chloride THF complex (CrCl3 . 3 THF) and 3 KAl(OiPr)4.It was used as a single sourceprecursor to make oxide powders and films with 1:3 chromium/aluminium compositionthrough sol-gel synthesis. The final materials obtained and heat-treated samples of these wasstudied with thermogravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and IR spectroscopy. Itwas found that the as synthesised material was amorphous and elementally homogeneousand could be described as hydrated (oxo)-hydroxide with some loosely bonded carbonate,but no organics remaining. Above 600 oC crystallisation starts and eventually splits into twocorundum structured phases starting around 800 oC. At 1400  oC, the phases had joined backtogether in accordance with the Cr-Al-O phase diagram. Scanning Transmission ElectronMicroscopy with Electron Dispersive X-ray (STEM-EDX) tomography showed that the powderswere homogenous up to 800 oC, while after heating to 1000 oC showed chromiumenrichment in some crystals. Gracing Incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) on spin-coated filmsshowed that epitaxial growth might be achieved based on -Al2O3 (0001) substrate. The results show that the synthesis of the precursor and subsequent oxides was successful andyielded highly homogeneous gels that could be converted into oxide at ca. 600 oC andsubsequently be phase separated through spinodal decomposition at 1000 oC. The next stepwould be to try the precursor in the industrially used chemical vapour deposition (CVD)method.

Solid oxide fuel cells are used as stationary power plants for electricity production. Despite having a very high efficiency of 90% they haven’t gained a world-wide commercial usage, due to their very high operating temperatures, and high production cost. However, there is a lot of ongoing research with the aim of developing intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) that could operate at temperatures below 800°C. Cathodes are the most studied components of IT-SOFCs, since decreasing operating temperature results in slow oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) kinetics and large polarization losses. Perovskite related metal oxides have become very popular materials that could make suitable cathodes for IT-SOFCs. In this work an evaluation of several materials belonging to three different material groups have been studied: single layer perovskites, with a general formula of ABO3, double layer perovskites, with a general formula of AA’B2O6 and Ruddlesden-Popper phase, with a general formula of An+1BnO3n+1. Power generating capabilities of those materials have been studied on an electrolyte supported cell, cathode/LSGM9182/Ni-Fe. IR drop and overpotential of the cathode was measured and activation energy of the ORR for each material has been calculated. The double layer perovskite cobaltites offer a significant drop in overpotential, increase in conductivity compared to their single layer counterpart, while being able to generate significant amount of power. Ruddlesden-Popper phase materials offer the lowest activation energy values amongst the researched materials, but offer limited power generation values in the setup they were tested. Both of double layer perovskites and Ruddlesden-Popper based materials have opportunities for their performance to be improved. / Fastoxidbränsleceller används som stationära kraftverk för elproduktion. Trots att de har en mycket hög effektivitet på 90% har de inte fått en världsomspännande kommersiell användning på grund av deras mycket höga driftstemperaturer och hög produktionskostnad. Det är emellertid mycket pågående forskning med sikte på att utveckla intermediär temperatur fastoxidbränsleceller (IT-SOFC) som kan fungera vid temperaturer under 800 ° C. Katod är de mest studerade komponenterna i IT-SOFC, eftersom minskad driftstemperatur resulterar i kinetik med långsam syrereduktion (ORR) och stora polarisationsförluster. Perovskite-relaterade metalloxider har blivit mycket populära material som kan göra lämpliga katoder för IT-SOFC. I detta arbete har en utvärdering av flera material som hör till tre olika materialgrupper studerats: singelskikt perovskiter, med en generell formel för ABO3, dubbelskikt perovskiter, med en generell formel av AA'B2O6 och Ruddlesden-Popper-fasen med en allmän formel för An + 1BnO3n + 1. Effektgenereringskapaciteten hos dessa material har studerats på en elektrolytbärbar cell, katod / LSGM9182 / Ni-Fe. IR-droppe och överpotential hos katoden mättes och aktiveringsenergin för ORR för varje material har beräknats. Dubbelskiktet perovskit koboltiter ger en signifikant minskning av överpotentialen, ökad ledningsförmåga jämfört med deras enkelskikt motpart, samtidigt som man kan generera betydande mängden kraft. Ruddlesden-Popper-fasmaterial erbjuder de lägsta aktiveringsenergivärdena bland de undersökta materialen, men erbjuder begränsade kraftproduktionsvärden i den inställning de testades. Både av dubbelskiktet perovskiter och Ruddlesden-Popper-baserade material har möjligheter att förbättra deras prestanda.

I samband med den globala uppvärmningen ökar efterfrågan för rena och förnybara bränslen alltmer i dagens samhälle. Eftersom flygindustrin idag är ansvarig för samma mängd växthusgaser som all motortrafik i Sverige, skulle ett byte till en avgasfri energikälla för flygfarkoster vara ett stort framsteg. Därför har projektet genom modellering framtagit ett hybridsystem av ett batteri och en bränslecell och undersökt hur kombinationen av olika storlekar på dem presterar i en driftcykel. Då batterier har hög specifik effekt men är tunga, kompletteras de med fördel av bränsleceller, som är lättviktiga och bidrar med uthållig strömförsörjning. På så sätt blir hybriden optimal för flygfarkoster. Kandidatarbetet är en del av projektet Green Raven, ett tvärvetenskapligt samarbete mellan instutitionerna Tillämpad Elektrokemi, Mekatronik och Teknisk Mekanik på Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan. Driftcykelmodelleringen gjordes i Simulink, och flera antaganden gjordes beträffande effektprofilen, samt bränslecellens mätvärden och effekt. Tre olika energihushållningsscheman skapades, vilka bestämde bränslecellseffekten beroende på vätgasnivån och batteriets laddningstillstånd. Skillnaden på systemen var vilka intervall av laddningstillstånd hos batteriet som genererade olika effekt hos bränslecellen.  Det bästa alternativet visade sig vara 0/100-systemet, eftersom det var det enda som inte orsakede någon degradering av bränslecellens kapacitet. / In today’s society, with several environmental challenges such as global warming, the demand for cleanand renewable fuels is ever increasing. Since the aviation industry in Sweden is responsible for the sameamount of greenhouse gas emissions as the motor traffic, a change to a non-polluting energy source forflying vehicles would be considerable progress. Therefore, this project has designed a hybrid system of abattery and a fuel cell and investigated how different combinations of battery and fuel cell sizes perform ina drive cycle, through computer modelling. As batteries possess a high specific power but are heavy, thefuel cells with high specific energy complement them with a sustained and lightweight power supply,which makes the hybrid perfect for aviation. The bachelor thesis is a part of Project Green Raven, aninterdisciplinary collaboration with the institutions of Applied Electrochemistry, Mechatronics andEngineering Mechanics at KTH Royal Institute of Techology. The drive cycle simulations were done inSimulink, and several assumptions regarding the power profile, fuel cell measurements and power weremade. Three different energy management strategies were set up, determining the fuel cell powerdepending on hydrogen availability and state of charge of the battery. The strategies were called 35/65,20/80 and 0/100, and the difference between them was at which state of charge intervals the fuel cellchanged its power output. The best strategy proved to be 0/100, since it was the only option which causedno degradation of the fuel cell whatsoever.

Alkaline fuel cells are a promising technology, with their sturdy design and many applications they are held back mostly by their cost. By introducing a catalyst, the activation energy of the cell can be reduced to an overcomable amount. Unfortunately, due to the high cost and sparse availability of the most used catalyst metal today, platinum, it has become apparent that a new suitable catalyst must be found in order to make the fuel cells economically feasible. Silver and palladium have been proposed as promising alternatives, sharing a majority of the traits but with a fraction of the cost. The original aim of this project was to study the performance of electrodes in an alkaline electrolyte loaded with different ratios of palladium and silver. However, due to the COVID-19 situation the project was not able to be completed and the aim of the project changed. The new aim was divided into two parts. The first one being to study how the initial concentration of silver ions affects the size of the obtained particles. This was achieved by a radiolysis-based method of synthesis in an aqueous solution. The second aim was to study the performance of the electrodes loaded with different amounts of silver and different average particle size. However, this part was not possible to conduct either. Therefore, results from a previous study performed by I. L. Soroka et al. was used for discussion. The results point towards a lower initial concentration achieving a smaller average particle size and a lower loading of catalyst on the electrode can be compensated by a smaller average particle size of the catalyst.