1. Eliminating micro-porous layer from gas diffusion electrode for use in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
- Author
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Huaming Li, Cordellia Sita, Junjie Chong, Sivakumar Pasupathi, Qian Xu, and Huaneng Su
- Subjects
chemistry.chemical_classification ,Gas diffusion electrode ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,Chemistry ,Membrane electrode assembly ,Energy Engineering and Power Technology ,Nanotechnology ,02 engineering and technology ,Electrolyte ,Polymer ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Membrane ,Chemical engineering ,Electrode ,Gaseous diffusion ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,0210 nano-technology ,Current density - Abstract
In this work, we report a simple strategy to improve the performance of high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) by eliminating the micro-porous layer (MPL) from its gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). Due to the absence of liquid water and the general use of high amount of catalyst, the MPL in a HT-PEMFC system works limitedly. Contrarily, the elimination of the MPL leads to an interlaced micropore/macropore composited structure in the catalyst layer (CL), which favors gas transport and catalyst utilization, resulting in a greatly improved single cell performance. At the normal working voltage (0.6 V), the current density of the GDE eliminated MPL reaches 0.29 A cm−2, and a maximum power density of 0.54 W cm−2 at 0.36 V is obtained, which are comparable to the best results yet reported for the HT-PEMFCs with similar Pt loading and operated using air. Furthermore, the MPL-free GDE maintains an excellent durability during a preliminary 1400 h HT-PEMFC operation, owing to its structure advantages, indicating the feasibility of this electrode for practical applications.
- Published
- 2017
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