Theoretical studies on membranes and non-platinum catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Journal Article · Thu Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 2015 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4938853· OSTI ID:22499157

Ushiyama, Hiroshi ^[1]

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1. Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan [e-mail] (Japan)

Mechanism of proton transfer among high-density acid groups in the interface between organic and inorganic materials for polymer electrolyte fuel cells has been theoretically examined. It has been clearly shown that the interactions between the phosphate groups at the surface of the inorganic material, zirconium phosphate (ZrP), and the adsorbed water molecules are relatively large and a strong hydrogen-bond network is generated locally. Because of the strong interactions, water molecules can be attached to ZrP and the O–O distance becomes shorter than that in bulk water systems. Because of the short O–O distances and the delocalized charge of each atom, the activation energy of proton transfer at the ZrP surface decreases and causes high proton conductivity even under conditions of high temperature and low humidity. Based on the above studies, the origin of the high proton conductivity of hybrid electrolytes is also discussed. We will also discuss the mechanism of oxygen reduction reaction on non-platinum catalysts such as Ta{sub 3}N{sub 5}.

• OSTI ID: 22499157
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1702, Issue 1; Conference: ICCMSE 2015: International conference of computational methods in sciences and engineering 2015, Athens (Greece), 20-23 Mar 2015; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ACTIVATION ENERGY
CATALYSTS
DENSITY
ELECTROLYTES
HUMIDITY
HYDROGEN
INTERATOMIC DISTANCES
MEMBRANES
OXYGEN
PLATINUM
PROTON CONDUCTIVITY
PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS
PROTONS
STRONG INTERACTIONS
TANTALUM NITRIDES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
WATER
ZIRCONIUM PHOSPHATES
ZIRCONIUM PHOSPHIDES