Operando 3D Visualization of Migration and Degradation of a Platinum Cathode Catalyst in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

The three‐dimensional (3D) distribution and oxidation state of a Pt cathode catalyst in a practical membrane electrode assembly (MEA) were visualized in a practical polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) under fuel‐cell operating conditions. Operando 3D computed‐tomography imaging with X‐ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy (CT‐XANES) clearly revealed the heterogeneous migration and degradation of Pt cathode catalyst in an MEA during accelerated degradation test (ADT) of PEFC. The degradative Pt migration proceeded over the entire cathode catalyst layer and spread to MEA depth direction into the Nafion membrane.     

Mapping Platinum Species in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells by Spatially Resolved XAFS Techniques

There is limited information on the mechanism for platinum oxidation and dissolution in Pt/C cathode catalyst layers of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) under the operating conditions though these issues should be uncovered for the development of next‐generation PEFCs. Pt species in Pt/C cathode catalyst layers are mapped by a XAFS (X‐ray absorption fine structure) method and by a quick‐XAFS(QXAFS) method. Information on the site‐preferential oxidation and leaching of Pt cathode nanoparticles around the cathode boundary and the micro‐crack in degraded PEFCs is provided, which is relevant to the origin and mechanism of PEFC degradation.     

Polyaniline/Platinum Composite Cathode Catalysts Towards Durable Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Polymer stabilization proved to be a promising approach to increase the catalytic performance of common platinum/carbon based cathode catalysts (Pt/C) used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Platinum and polyaniline composite catalysts (Pt/C/PANI) were prepared by combining chemical polymerization reactions with anion exchange reactions. Electrochemical ex-situ characterizations of the decorated Pt/C/PANI catalysts show high catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and, more importantly, a significant enhanced durability compared to the undecorated Pt/C catalyst. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations reveal structural benefits of Pt/C/PANI for ORR catalysis. All studies confirm high potential of Pt/C/PANI for practical fuel cell application.     

静电纺丝制备质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层综述

质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层在成本、耐久性以及性能上的局限是制约燃料电池汽车商业化的瓶颈. 已有文献证明静电纺丝技术制备的纳米纤维催化剂层能提高催化剂利用率、增加三相界面和三相通道以及提高耐久性. 作者结合所在课题组的工作综述了静电纺丝技术制备质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层的研究进展. 首先,介绍了质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层的发展历程,并从制备方式和结构两个方面对其进行分类和总结;接下来,从静电纺丝纳米纤维催化剂层的制备、物理特性表征、电化学性能分析及耐久性表征等方面进行了总结;最后,从三相界面、三相通道以及量产适用性的视点比较了三种结构的催化剂层,介绍了质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层的发展趋势,并梳理了静电纺丝法制备质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂层领域待研的问题.     

Optimizing Weights of Platinum in the Active Layer of the Cathode of a Hydrogen–Oxygen Fuel Cell with a Solid Polymer Electrolyte

The active layer of the cathode of a hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell with a solid polymer electrolyte is computer simulated. The active mass of the electrode consists of substrate grains (agglomerates of carbon particles with Pt particles embedded into them) and grains of a solid polymer electrolyte (Nafion). The substrate grains presumably contain hydrophobic pores, which facilitate the oxygen penetration into the active mass. A calculation of characteristics of such an electrode focuses on the optimization of platinum weights. The principal parameters of the system are concentration and size of grains of substrate and Nafion, Pt concentration in substrate grains, average diameter of hydrophobic pores in substrate grains, and the electrode polarization. The optimum, at a given electrode polarization, electrochemical activity of the active layer, its thickness, and the platinum weight are calculated. A link between these quantities and principal parameters of the active layer is revealed.     

Paper-like Microfibrous Nickel Catalyst for Hydrogen Production via NH3 Decomposition in Fuel Cell Applications

Recently, miniature H2 generator to power fuel cells for portable/micro electronic devices and passenger propulsion has been the focus of intense research activities1-3. One of the strategies is to find simple CO-free H2 production with novel microreactor…     

Calculating a Characteristic Bulk Current Density in the Cathode of a Hydrogen-Oxygen Fuel Cell with a Solid Polymer Electrolyte

The magnitude of currents of electrodes in hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells of all types is shown to be fully determined by values of the effective coefficient of gas diffusion, the effective coefficient of ionic conduction, and the characteristic bulk current density. The characteristic bulk current density is estimated in two versions for cathodes with Nafion: the catalyst is distributed in the bulk of substrate grains or at their external surface. The currents commensurate with those observed in experiments are given only by the second version. Means of computer-aided simulation are used to imitate the formation of fractal films composed of the catalyst particles on the surface substrate grains. The simulation means made it possible to link the magnitude of the specific surface area of platinum particles with its weight content in substrate grains. Electrochemical characteristics of the cathode with Nafion-the potential dependence of the optimum magnitude of the overall current and the thicknesses of the active layer and the weight of platinum in it, as well as the magnitudes of the optimum current generated by a unit weight of platinum—are calculated. A notion of “ norm” is introduced for the characteristic bulk current density of the cathode. 1 × 10^?3 A cm^?3 is the electrochemical-process intensity, which the technology of preparation of active layers of cathodes can provide at this stage in the development of fuel cells with a solid polymer electrolyte.     

Impact of Membrane Types and Catalyst Layers Composition on Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Performance of a low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is highly dependent on the kind of catalysts, catalyst supports, ionomer amount on the catalyst layers (CL), membrane types and operating conditions. In this work, we investigated the influence of membrane types and CL compositions on MEA performance. MEA performance increases under all practically relevant load conditions with reduction of the membrane thickness from 50 to 15 μm, however further decrease in membrane thickness from 15 to 10 μm leads to reduction in cell voltage at high current loads. A thick anode CL is found to be beneficial under wet operating conditions assuming more pore space is provided to accommodate liquid water, whereas under dry operating conditions, an intermediate thickness of the anode CL is beneficial. When studying the impact of catalyst layer thickness, too thin a catalyst layer again shows reduced performance due to increased ohmic resistance ruled out the performance of the MEAs which have identical Pt crystallite sizes on the cathode CLs i. e. the thinnest the cathode CL, the highest the voltage were achieved at a defined current load. Adaptation of the operating conditions is highly anticipated to achieve the highest MEA performance.     

Anode Catalytic Dependency Behavior on Ionomer Content in Direct CO Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

In this work, the effect of Nafion ionomer content on the structure and catalytic performance of direct CO polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(CO-PEMFC) by using Rh-N-C single-atom catalyst as the anode catalyst layers was studied. The ionic plaque and roughness of the anode catalyst layers increase with the increase of Nafion ionomer content. Furthermore, the contact angle measurement results show that the hydrophilicity of the anode catalyst layers also increases with the increase of Nafion ionomer content. However, when the Nafion ionomer content is too low, the binding between microporous layers, catalyst layers and membrane cannot meet the requirement for either electric conductivity or mass transfer. While Nafion ionomer content increased above 30%, the content of water in anode is difficult to control. Therefore, it was found that AN 30(30% Nafion ionomer content of anode) is the best level to effectively extend the three-phase boundary and improve CO-PEMFCs performance.     

低维纳米材料在质子交换膜燃料电池电催化反应中的应用

在聚合物膜燃料电池中,电催化剂决定了电池的运行寿命及性能。本文按照材料维数的不同,分别介绍了近年来零维、一维和二维材料在聚合物膜燃料电池电极反应中应用的最新研究进展;并对各类聚合物膜燃料电池电催化反应的机理和研究侧重点进行了详细的介绍。     

用于质子交换膜燃料电池催化剂结构研究的原位XAFS实验方法

依托上海光源的X射线吸收精细结构(XAFS)谱学线站(BL14W1),建立并发展了用于氢-氧质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)原位XAFS实验的测试装置,以Pt/C纳米催化剂作为PEMFC的阴极催化剂, Pd/C作为燃料电池的阳极催化剂,采集在工作状态下的阴极催化剂的XAFS数据,同步监测燃料电池的电流-电压(J-V)曲线和功率密度曲线,观察到Pt/C催化剂在反应过程中不同电位下氧化态的变化,在高电位下Pt/C催化剂的表面存在较强的Pt-O键,降低了Pt/C催化剂的性能.本文同时也验证了我们所建立的实验装置和研究方法的可行性和可靠性.     

S‐Doping of an Fe/N/C ORR Catalyst for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells with High Power Density

Fe/N/C is a promising non‐Pt electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but its catalytic activity is considerably inferior to that of Pt in acidic medium, the environment of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). An improved Fe/N/C catalyst (denoted as Fe/N/C‐SCN) derived from Fe(SCN)₃, poly‐m‐phenylenediamine, and carbon black is presented. The advantage of using Fe(SCN)₃ as iron source is that the obtained catalyst has a high level of S doping and high surface area, and thus exhibits excellent ORR activity (23 A g^?1 at 0.80 V) in 0.1 M H₂SO₄ solution. When the Fe/N/C‐SCN was applied in a PEMFC as cathode catalyst, the maximal power density could exceed 1 W cm^?2.     

High‐Performance Liquid‐Catalyst Fuel Cell for Direct Biomass‐into‐Electricity Conversion

Herein, we report high‐performance fuel cells that are catalyzed solely by polyoxometalate (POM) solution without any solid metal or metal oxide. The novel design of the liquid‐catalyst fuel cells (LCFC) changes the traditional gas–solid‐surface heterogeneous reactions to liquid‐catalysis reactions. With this design, raw biomasses, such as cellulose, starch, and even grass or wood powders can be directly converted into electricity. The power densities of the fuel cell with switchgrass (dry powder) and bush allamanda (freshly collected) are 44 mW cm^?2 and 51 mW cm^?2 respectively. For the cellulose‐based biomass fuel cell, the power density is almost 3000 times higher than that of cellulose‐based microbial fuel cells. Unlike noble‐metal catalysts, POMs are tolerant to most organic and inorganic contaminants. Therefore, almost any raw biomass can be used directly to produce electricity without prior purification.     

Effect of the Cathode Catalyst Layer Thickness on the Performance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Catalyst deposition control is one of the overlooked areas of fuel cell fabrication and research that can affect the overall performance and cost of the fuel cell to manufacture for mass production. The effect of the different individual catalyst layer thicknesses and loadings of the cathode compartment of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was investigated. The drawdown method was performed at thicknesses varying from 1 mil to 8 mils with platinum loadings ranging from 0.25 mg cm^?2 to 2.0 mg cm^?2. The membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with thicker individual layers (8 mil and 4 mil) performed better overall compared to the ones prepared with thinner individual layers (1 mil). The power density maxima for the different loading levels followed an exponential decrease of platinum utilization at the higher loading levels. The painted MEAs tended to display the similar performance characteristics as the drawdown MEA layers closest to the thickness at the respective loadings.     

纳米Au粒子作为直接硼氢化钠-过氧化氢燃料电池阴极催化剂

采用浸渍还原法制备了纳米Au/C, 并将其用作直接硼氢化钠-过氧化氢燃料电池阴极催化剂. 通过X-射线衍射(XRD)和透射电镜(TEM)对催化剂进行结构和形貌分析, 结果表明10～20 nm的纳米Au粒子均匀地分散在Vulcan XC-72R碳黑表面上. 循环伏安测试表明, 在0.5 mol•L－1 H2SO4和2 mol•L－1 H2O2混合溶液中, 纳米Au/C在0.85 V处表现较强的不可逆还原电流. 以纳米Au/C为阴极催化剂, AB5储氢合金为阳极催化剂制成直接硼氢化钠-过氧化氢燃料电池. 电池在30 ℃下的最大功率密度可达到78.6 mW•cm－2. 当电池工作温度升高至50 ℃时, 电池的最大功率密度超过120 mW•cm－2. 此外, 研究了阴极溶液中H2SO4和H2O2浓度对电池性能的影响. 当阴极溶液中H2SO4浓度小于0.5 mol•L－1时, 酸浓度对电池性能影响较大; H2O2浓度对电池性能影响较小. 确定了阴极溶液中H2SO4和H2O2的最佳浓度分别为0.5和2 mol•L－1.     

碱性固体燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展

最近,碱性聚合物电解质膜燃料电池（APEMFC）因具有电极反应动力学快以及不依赖于贵金属铂催化剂等诸多优点而成为一个热门话题. 作为其中一个关键部件,碱性聚合物电解质膜直接影响燃料电池的性能和成本.然而,迄今为止,仍然没有令人满意的碱性电解质膜材料. 为此,大量研究被开展和报道. 本文综述了近三年内文献中关于燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展：包括各种各样的合成策略,构效关系,水管理以及非原位或原位稳定性测试等等. 尤其是一些新的金属离子基阴离子交换膜和冠醚基阴离子交换膜首次被提及和评论.此外,还进一步预测了将来的发展趋势.     

碱性固体燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展

最近,碱性聚合物电解质膜燃料电池（APEMFC）因具有电极反应动力学快以及不依赖于贵金属铂催化剂等诸多优点而成为一个热门话题. 作为其中一个关键部件,碱性聚合物电解质膜直接影响燃料电池的性能和成本.然而,迄今为止,仍然没有令人满意的碱性电解质膜材料. 为此,大量研究被开展和报道. 本文综述了近三年内文献中关于燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展：包括各种各样的合成策略,构效关系,水管理以及非原位或原位稳定性测试等等. 尤其是一些新的金属离子基阴离子交换膜和冠醚基阴离子交换膜首次被提及和评论.此外,还进一步预测了将来的发展趋势.     

A Membrane-Free Neutral pH Formate Fuel Cell Enabled by a Selective Nickel Sulfide Oxygen Reduction Catalyst

Polymer electrolyte membranes employed in contemporary fuel cells severely limit device design and restrict catalyst choice, but are essential for preventing short-circuiting reactions at unselective anode and cathode catalysts. Herein, we report that nickel sulfide Ni₃S₂ is a highly selective catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction in the presence of 1.0 m formate. We combine this selective cathode with a carbon-supported palladium (Pd/C) anode to establish a membrane-free, room-temperature formate fuel cell that operates under benign neutral pH conditions. Proof-of-concept cells display open circuit voltages of approximately 0.7 V and peak power values greater than 1 mW cm⁻², significantly outperforming the identical device employing an unselective platinum (Pt) cathode. The work establishes the power of selective catalysis to enable versatile membrane-free fuel cells.     

碱性固体燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展

最近,碱性聚合物电解质膜燃料电池(APEMFC)因具有电极反应动力学快以及不依赖于贵金属铂催化剂等诸多优点而成为一个热门话题.作为其中一个关键部件,碱性聚合物电解质膜直接影响燃料电池的性能和成本.然而,迄今为止,仍然没有令人满意的碱性电解质膜材料.为此,大量研究被开展和报道.本文综述了近三年内文献中关于燃料电池碱性聚合物电解质膜的最新研究进展:包括各种各样的合成策略,构效关系,水管理以及非原位或原位稳定性测试等等.尤其是一些新的金属离子基阴离子交换膜和冠醚基阴离子交换膜首次被提及和评论.此外,还进一步预测了将来的发展趋势.