Editors’ Choice—Uncovering the Role of Alkaline Pretreatment for Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Shi, Lin; Setzler, Brian P.; Hu, Keda; Weiss, Catherine M.; Matz, Stephanie; Xue, Yanrong; Xu, Zhiyuan; Zhuang, Zhongbin; Gottesfeld, Shimshon; Yan, Yushan

doi:10.1149/1945-7111/abc4bd

Editors’ Choice—Uncovering the Role of Alkaline Pretreatment for Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Journal Article · Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/abc4bd· OSTI ID:1703933

Shi, Lin; ; Hu, Keda; Weiss, Catherine M.; Matz, Stephanie; Xue, Yanrong; Xu, Zhiyuan; Zhuang, Zhongbin; ;

Alkaline pretreatment is perceived as an essential step for high-performance hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells (HEMFCs), but its exact function is not fully understood. Here we show that alkaline pretreatment is only necessary when carboxylates are generated from platinum- or palladium-catalyzed oxidation of primary alcohol solvents during membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabrication. When alkaline pretreatment is needed, bicarbonates are a better choice than the most commonly used hydroxide bases. We further demonstrate that MEAs with Pt/Pd-free catalysts, which can be used in HEMFCs, exhibit a better performance without the alkaline pretreatment: a voltage of 0.64 V at 1.0 A cm ⁻² and a peak power density of 0.69 W cm ⁻² in H ₂ /O ₂ . The optimization or elimination of the alkaline pretreatment will simplify the fabrication process for fuel cells and thus reduces their manufacturing costs.

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Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0001034

OSTI ID:: 1703933

Journal Information:: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 167; ISSN 0013-4651

Publisher:: The Electrochemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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