Microscopy, Spectroscopy, and Software for Green Hydrogen Energy Development

With smaller overall size, desktop SEM instruments enhance ease of use and democratize SEM technology. While traditional floor model SEM instruments can require a specialized room or facility, desktop instruments are far more robust. Some researchers have even taken their desktop SEMs on the road, providing on-site electron microscopy analysis via mobile laboratories. Desktop SEMs often provide the shortest time to data in failure analysis of electrolyzer or fuel cell components and characterize contamination with built-in compositional analysis.

Floor model SEMs offer the flexibility and versatility to meet a wide range of academic and industrial needs: support for large and heavy samples, a very wide range of accessories, excellent imaging quality for the most challenging materials or the smallest details, and dynamic experimentation. Modern SEMs can easily image catalyst nanoparticles and beam-sensitive polymer membranes, and they can also characterize all materials in an electrolyzer or fuel cell.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is the industry leader in FIB-SEM technology with more than 30 years of experience with our Thermo Scientific DualBeam Instruments. The technology’s ability to make site-specific cross sections, acquire 3D datasets, and prepare TEM lamellae is crucial for electrolyzer and fuel cell R&D.

TEM instruments are capable of unparalleled resolution and routinely collect sub-nanometer scale (if not atomic resolution) images. With electrochemical processes in electrolyzers and fuel cells that depend on thin layers, small particles, and contamination in such features, a TEM is an indispensable tool for research and development.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments are the standard tools for surface characterization, providing information about the composition and chemical state of materials in the top few nanometers of a surface, with an option to dig deeper into the surface as well. XPS is crucial for the characterization and development of catalyst materials.