title: CAD/CAM-designed 3D-printed electroanalytical cell for the evaluation of nanostructured gas-diffusion electrodes.
abstract: The ability to effectively screen and validate gas-diffusion electrodes is critical to the development of next-generation metal-air batteries and regenerative fuel cells. The limiting electrode in a classic two-terminal device such as a battery or fuel cell is difficult to discern without an internal reference electrode, but the flooded electrolyte characteristic of three-electrode electroanalytical cells negates the prime function of an air electrode-a void volume freely accessible to gases. The nanostructured catalysts that drive the energy-conversion reactions (e.g., oxygen reduction and evolution in the air electrode of metal-air batteries) are best evaluated in the electrode structure as-used in the practical device. We have designed, 3D-printed, and characterized an air-breathing, thermodynamically referenced electroanalytical cell that allows us to mimic the Janus arrangement of the gas-diffusion electrode in a metal-air cell: one face freely exposed to gases, the other wetted by electrolyte.
authors.affiliation: US Naval Research Laboratory, Surface Chemistry Branch (Code 6170), Washington, DC 20375, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Chervin
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Debra R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Rolison
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Long