ナノテラスのナノCT画像からガス拡散を10秒で予測 ―燃料電池の高出力・長寿命化に向けた材料設計最適化へ―

2026-03-31 東北大学

東北大学の研究グループは、放射光施設ナノテラスのナノCTとマニフォールド学習を組み合わせ、多孔質材料のガス拡散係数を高速予測する手法を開発した。固体高分子形燃料電池の触媒層に適用した結果、複雑なナノ構造を非破壊で可視化しつつ、拡散係数を誤差約5%で推定できることを実証。従来困難だった構造と物性の関係を短時間で把握可能となり、計算は約10秒で完了する。この高速性により、多様な試料の比較や製造条件との対応付けが容易となり、燃料電池の高出力化・長寿命化に向けた材料設計や製造プロセスの最適化が期待される。成果はエネルギーデバイス分野の学術誌に掲載された。

ナノテラスのナノCT画像からガス拡散を10秒で予測 ―燃料電池の高出力・長寿命化に向けた材料設計最適化へ―
図1. 本研究で提案する構造と物性の相関関係の構築方法と、それを用いた予測方法。

<関連情報>

多様体学習とX線プティコグラフィーナノコンピュータ断層撮影法によるプロトン交換膜燃料電池触媒層のガス拡散特性の構造ベース予測 Structure-based prediction of gas diffusion property of catalytic layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cells via manifold learning and X-ray ptychographic nano-computed tomography

Shota Arai,Yuki Takayama,Takashi Yoshidome
Journal of Power Sources  Available online: 26 March 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2026.239916

Highlights

  • The relationship between gas diffusion and catalyst layer structure was constructed.
  • An effective structural data representation in the manifold learning was proposed.
  • Gas-diffusion coefficients were accurately predicted with errors below 10%.
  • The relationship was validated by NanoTerasu hard X-ray nano-CT data.

Abstract

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have attracted significant attention as a promising technology for clean and efficient power conversion, contributing to the realization of a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. To advance this technology, a data-driven framework is proposed to construct structure–property relationships between gas diffusion and the three-dimensional structure of the catalyst layer (CL) within the catalyst-coated membrane of a PEMFC. Our approach uses manifold learning to extract the intrinsic structural features of the CL implicitly, thereby eliminating the need for manual feature engineering. To significantly enhance prediction performance, manifold learning is performed in a high-dimensional space defined by the logarithmic power spectra of the porous structures, which effectively capture features relevant to gas diffusion. The framework accurately predicts gas-diffusion coefficients with relative errors below 10%, even in low-resolution regimes where direct simulations fail. Validated using hard X-ray ptychographic nano-CT data acquired at the NanoTerasu facility, these findings establish a robust foundation for a new paradigm in the data-driven design of materials and devices with complex hierarchical architectures and in the development of digital twins for complex functional materials.

1603情報システム・データ工学
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