Influence of membrane-electrode interface on long-term performance of direct methanol fuel cells
- Yu Seung
- Bryan Scott
Long-term stability of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is one of the most critical requirements for the successful launch of this technology to commercial market. When a DMFC is operated for extended periods of time, performance decreases continuously. The performance decay in continuous operation of DMFCs is caused by several different attributes, such as surface oxidation of platinum at the cathode, loss of catalytic active surface area, interfacial failure between membrane and electrode, changing hydrophobicity of backing layers or ruthenium crossover. Among those attributes, the interfacial incompatibility between membrane and electrode becomes more important when alternative polymer electrolyte membranes (PEM) are used with Nafion-bonded electrode. In earlier work, we demonstrated that the direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) using alternative fully aromatic hydrocarbon based PEMs initially outperformed the DMFCs using industrial standard Nafion membranes. Nonetheless, the longer-term performance of the alternative system deteriorated rather faster probably due to the interfacial incompatibility. In this presentation, the effect of interfacial incompatibility of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) on long-term DMFC performance is presented in a systematic manner. A series of disulfonated poly(arylene ether) copolymers having different ion exchange capacity and fluorine content was prepared. The effects of chemical structure of the PEMs on interfacial compatibility and long-term performance were investigated and compared with Nation control membraneelectrode assembly.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE
- OSTI ID:
- 977791
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-04-5368
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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