Self-assembled network polymer electrolyte membranes for application in fuel cells at 250 °C
Abstract
Operating polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells at high temperatures can simplify water management and allow integration with high-purity fuel processing units. However, existing polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based PEM fuel cells face challenges due to the instability of proton transport above 160 °C. Here we report a PEM composed of para-PBI (p-PBI) and cerium hydrogen phosphate (CeHP) that can be used in a fuel cell at up to 250 °C. During fabrication, echinoid-shaped CeHP particles form a well-dispersed and interconnected self-assembled network within the PBI matrix (SAN–CeHP–PBI), allowing them to outperform p-PBI and conventional CeHP–PBI PEMs in terms of proton transport above 200 °C. We report a SAN–CeHP–PBI-based fuel cell that reaches a maximum power density of 2.35 W cm−2 (at 250 °C in dry H2/O2) with negligible degradation over 500 h during thermal cycling (at 160–240 °C, H2/air). SAN–CeHP–PBI also demonstrates excellent CO tolerance, showing promise for integration with liquid hydrogen carrier systems.
Copyright and License
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the KIST Institutional Program from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (S.L., Y.J., S.-J.H., Y.P., Y.C.K., H.-Y.P., J.H.J., H.-J.K., S.-W.N., S.Y.L.) and supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by Korea government (MIST) (NRF-2022M3J1A1065570 (S.-J.H., G.G., K.H.L., H.-Y.P., J.H.J., H.-J.K., S.-W.N., S.Y.L.) and RS-2023-00235295 (S.-J.H., G.G., K.H.L., H.-Y.P., J.H.J., H.-J.K., S.-W.N., S.Y.L.)).
Contributions
These authors contributed equally: Seungju Lee, Jong Geun Seong, YoungSuk Jo.
S.Y.L. and S.-W.N. developed the intellectual concept and supervised this research. H.-J.K. guided the work of sol–gel-type polymer synthesis and HT-PEMFC testing. S.L., Y.J. and S.Y.L. wrote the first paper draft with support from other coauthors. J.G.S., S.-J.H., G.G. and S.Y.L. wrote the revised paper. S.L. prepared SAN–CeHP–PBI, fabricated most of the MEAs and performed the experiments on the fuel cells. G.G. evaluated the reproducibility of SAN–CeHP–PBI by fabricating MEAs. G.G. determined the electrochemical performance above 250 °C. K.H.L. provided support for manufacturing PA-doped homemade electrodes and AST durability testing. Y.P. prepared the dehydrogenation of hydrogenated N-ethylcarbazole. Y.J. and Y.C.K. measured the performance of an HT-PEMFC integrated with a LHC processor. S.-J.H. conducted the NMR analysis and analysed the NMR data. Interpretation of the NMR data in accordance with the changes in proton transport in SAN–CeHP–PBI with temperature was conducted by S.-J.H., J.G.S. and S.Y.L. H.-Y.P. and J.H.J. provided support for the electrochemical performance testing and analysis. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.
Data Availability
The data supporting the plots of this article and source data for the Supplementary Information are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10908280 (ref. 54). Source data are provided with this paper.
Conflict of Interest
S.Y.L., S.L., J.H.J., H.-J.K., S.-W.N., Y.J. and Y.C.K. were granted a US patent (US11569523B2) on 31 January 2023 related to this work. J.G.S. is employed by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Samsung Electronics Co. Y.J. is employed by AMOGY Inc. The other authors declare no competing interests.
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Additional details
Identifiers
Funding
- Korea Institute of Science and Technology
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- NRF-2022M3J1A1065570
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- RS-2023-00235295