Membrane crystallinity and fuel crossover in direct ethanol fuel cells with Nafion composite membranes containing phosphotungstic acid

Kim, Hongjun; Lee, Sunghwan; Kim, Suran; Oh, Chungik; Ryu, Jeongjae; Kim, Jaegyu; Park, Eugene; Hong, Seungbum; No, Kwangsoo

doi:10.1007/s10853-016-0534-z

Membrane crystallinity and fuel crossover in direct ethanol fuel cells with Nafion composite membranes containing phosphotungstic acid

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Materials Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0534-z· OSTI ID:1340207

Kim, Hongjun ^[1]; Lee, Sunghwan ^[2]; Kim, Suran ^[1]; Oh, Chungik ^[1]; Ryu, Jeongjae ^[1]; Kim, Jaegyu ^[1]; Park, Eugene ^[3]; Hong, Seungbum ^[4]; No, Kwangsoo ^[1]

Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
Baylor Univ., Waco, TX (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Nelson Mandela African Inst. of Science and Technology, Arusha (Tanzania)
Korea Advanced Inst. Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division

Interest has been growing in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) due to their non-toxicity, low cost and potential contribution to energy issues in third world countries. A reduction in fuel cross-over is of key importance to enhance the performance of DEFCs that operate at low temperatures (<100 °C). We report on the effect of the addition of phosphotungstic acid (PWA) in Nafion membrane on the ethanol-crossover for DEFC application. A set of PWANafion composite membranes (PWA 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 wt%) was prepared by solution casting and their microstructures, diffraction patterns and permeability were systematically characterized. The significant reduction in ethanol-crossover was observed with increasing PWA concentration in PWA-Nafion membranes, which was mainly attributed to an improvement in crystallinity of the membrane. PWA provides additional nucleation sites during solidification leading to higher crystallinity, which is supported by the membrane permeability tests. These PWA-Nafion composites were implemented in proto-type DEFC devices as a membrane and the maximum power density achieved was 22% higher than that of commercial Nafion-117 device.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1340207

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1429873

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Science, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Science Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 52; ISSN 0022-2461

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Nafion
composite membrane
direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC)
ethanol-crossover
phosphotungstic acid

Membrane crystallinity and fuel crossover in direct ethanol fuel cells with Nafion composite membranes containing phosphotungstic acid

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