Novel Fluorinated Ionomer for PEM Fuel Cells SBIR Phase I Final Scientific / Technical Report Period Covering April 9, 2018 to January 8, 2019
- Giner, Inc., Newton, MA (United States)
Giner, Inc. has collaborated with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Compact Membrane Systems, Inc. (CMS) to develop novel highly fluorinated hydrocarbon ionomers for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Oxygen permeability tests have shown that these ionomers possess much higher O2 permeability than Nafion, which help to improve the local O2 transport in the fuel cell cathode. The benefits of developed ionomers have also been validated in membrane and electrode assemblies (MEAs) of PEM fuel cells; the developed ionomer has improved H2/air fuel cell performance at high current density region, demonstrating tremendous decease of local oxygen transport resistance. The partial oxygen pressure experiments have been designed to isolate local oxygen transport resistance that is pertaining to the ionomer thin film surrounding Pt particles. Electrode structures have been characterized and correlated with fuel cell performance. During this Phase I, Giner and its collaborators have successfully accomplished the following key milestones: 1) Synthesized two categories of fluorinated ionomers and delivered 10 grams of each ionomer for fuel cell tests - RPI team developed partially fluorinated sulfonated aromatic polymers biphenyl-based polymer backbone and a perfluorinated sulfonic acid side chain (BP-ArF4); - CMS contributed to novel custom amorphous fluoropolymers compositions that comprise 4,5-difluoro-2,2-bis(trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dioxole (PDD) 2) Successfully cast thin ionomer films (~ 1 μm) and measured their oxygen permeability - PDD-based ionomers increased oxygen permeability by three times compared to Nafion 1100 EW ionomer. 3) Incorporated selected PDD ionomers with other components to make fuel cell MEAs and acquired fuel cell performance - Improved H2/air performance by 100-200 mV at high current density(2 A/cm2) - Acquired hardware from General Motors to perform experiments to isolate local oxygen transport resistance associated with ionomer thin film. 4) Prepared electrode and MEA samples for morphology and microstructure characterizations. - Uniform Pt and ionomer distribution were observed using PDD ionomer. The significant progress of the Phase I project has provided a strong foundation for the Phase II project. We will further improve ionomer film gas permeability, scale up ionomer production, optimize fuel cell electrodes and maximize fuel cell performance under low Pt loading and high power operations.
- Research Organization:
- Giner, Inc., Newton, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Contributing Organization:
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.; Compact Membrane Systems, Inc.
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0018597
- OSTI ID:
- 1491499
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- 10146_Phase_I_Final_Report; 10146
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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