Hydrogen Crossover Flux through Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
Energy storage and conversion devices require an ion-exchange membrane with high transmission of charge-balancing ions and separation of anode and cathode electrolytes/gases. This ensures optimum device performance. Most conventional membranes suffer huge cross-permeation resulting in low energy efficiency and material degradation. This work investigated hydrogen permeability and proton transmission through membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) containing a monolayer of hexagonal boron nitride and single-layer and bi-layer graphene in a gas-phase small-scale cell and a liquid cell. Here we found that the hydrogen crossover flux through MEAs with 2D materials was inhibited by at least a factor of 5 compared to the one without. Single-layer graphene and boron nitride enabled high proton transmission, but bi-layer graphene inhibited proton conduction. Defect visualization of 2D materials revealed few atomic-scale defects in graphene. These findings suggest that a monolayer of 2D material may provide good selectivity for energy conversion and storage devices by blocking species crossover while allowing high proton transmission.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Office of Workforce Development for Teachers & Scientists (WDTS)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1900020
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-84625; MainId:85398; UUID:59fa8733-34b4-44fb-a98a-66d2ef29b6ad; MainAdminID:68085
- Journal Information:
- ECS Transactions, Vol. 109, Issue 9; ISSN 1938-5862
- Publisher:
- Electrochemical SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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