DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Intermediate temperature fuel cells via an ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte

Abstract

Fuel cells are attractive devices that convert chemical energy into electricity through the direct electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Intermediate temperature fuel cells operated at 200–300°C can simplify water and thermal managements, enable the use of non-precious or low-loading precious metal catalysts and provide insensitivity toward fuel and air impurities such as carbon monoxide. However, the performance of current intermediate temperature fuel cells is poor due to a lack of highly-conductive membrane electrolytes and optimal electrodes designed for these fuel cells. We demonstrate high-performing intermediate temperature fuel cells that use SnP2O7–polymer composite membranes and a quaternary ammonium-biphosphate ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte in the electrodes. The peak power density of the fuel cell under H2 and O2 reached 870 mW cm-2 at 240°C with minimal performance loss under exposure to 25% carbon monoxide.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Ceramatec, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Contributing Org.:
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1473810
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1434125
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-31199
Journal ID: ISSN 1754-5692; EESNBY
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; AR0000314
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy & Environmental Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-5692
Publisher:
Royal Society of Chemistry
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Lee, Kwan-Soo, Maurya, Sandip, Kim, Yu Seung, Kreller, Cortney R., Wilson, Mahlon S., Larsen, Dennis, Elangovan, S. Elango, and Mukundan, Rangachary. Intermediate temperature fuel cells via an ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1039/C7EE03595K.
Lee, Kwan-Soo, Maurya, Sandip, Kim, Yu Seung, Kreller, Cortney R., Wilson, Mahlon S., Larsen, Dennis, Elangovan, S. Elango, & Mukundan, Rangachary. Intermediate temperature fuel cells via an ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7EE03595K
Lee, Kwan-Soo, Maurya, Sandip, Kim, Yu Seung, Kreller, Cortney R., Wilson, Mahlon S., Larsen, Dennis, Elangovan, S. Elango, and Mukundan, Rangachary. Thu . "Intermediate temperature fuel cells via an ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7EE03595K. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1473810.
@article{osti_1473810,
title = {Intermediate temperature fuel cells via an ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte},
author = {Lee, Kwan-Soo and Maurya, Sandip and Kim, Yu Seung and Kreller, Cortney R. and Wilson, Mahlon S. and Larsen, Dennis and Elangovan, S. Elango and Mukundan, Rangachary},
abstractNote = {Fuel cells are attractive devices that convert chemical energy into electricity through the direct electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Intermediate temperature fuel cells operated at 200–300°C can simplify water and thermal managements, enable the use of non-precious or low-loading precious metal catalysts and provide insensitivity toward fuel and air impurities such as carbon monoxide. However, the performance of current intermediate temperature fuel cells is poor due to a lack of highly-conductive membrane electrolytes and optimal electrodes designed for these fuel cells. We demonstrate high-performing intermediate temperature fuel cells that use SnP2O7–polymer composite membranes and a quaternary ammonium-biphosphate ion-pair coordinated polymer electrolyte in the electrodes. The peak power density of the fuel cell under H2 and O2 reached 870 mW cm-2 at 240°C with minimal performance loss under exposure to 25% carbon monoxide.},
doi = {10.1039/C7EE03595K},
journal = {Energy & Environmental Science},
number = 4,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 56 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Comparison of different type of fuel cells; filled symbol: H2/air; unfilled: H2/O2. Fuel cell data are taken from references: AMFCs5, 31; LT-PEMFCs4, 32; HT-PEMFCs33; SAFCs12; ITFCs16, 34; PCFCs and SOFCs6, 34.

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Ion Conducting Membranes for Fuel Cells and other Electrochemical Devices
journal, September 2013

  • Kreuer, Klaus-Dieter
  • Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1021/cm402742u

Ammonium Polyphosphate Composite Based Electrolytes for Intermediate Temperature Fuel Cells
journal, March 2013


Proton conduction in acceptor doped SnP2O7
journal, February 2011

  • Phadke, Satyajit R.; Bowers, Clifford R.; Wachsman, Eric D.
  • Solid State Ionics, Vol. 183, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.ssi.2010.12.011

Thin-Membrane Solid-Acid Fuel Cell
journal, May 2005

  • Uda, T.; Haile, S. M.
  • Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.1883874

Porous Hollow Carbon@Sulfur Composites for High-Power Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
journal, May 2011

  • Jayaprakash, N.; Shen, J.; Moganty, Surya S.
  • Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 123, Issue 26, p. 6026-6030
  • DOI: 10.1002/ange.201100637

Lowering the Temperature of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
journal, November 2011


Origin of Toughness in Dispersion-Cast Nafion Membranes
journal, March 2015

  • Kim, Yu Seung; Welch, Cynthia F.; Hjelm, Rex P.
  • Macromolecules, Vol. 48, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1021/ma502538k

High Temperature, Low Humidity Proton Exchange Membrane Based on an Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Structure
journal, January 2010

  • Jin, Yongcheng; Fujiwara, Keisuke; Hibino, Takashi
  • Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.3267848

Structural investigation of ternary La/alkaline earth phosphate (La(1−x)MxP3Oy) (M=Ba, Ca, Sr) glasses
journal, June 2009


High-Power SOFC Using La[sub 0.9]Sr[sub 0.1]Ga[sub 0.8]Mg[sub 0.2]O[sub 3−δ]∕Ce[sub 0.8]Sm[sub 0.2]O[sub 2−δ] Composite Film
journal, January 2005

  • Yan, Jingwang; Matsumoto, Hiroshige; Enoki, Makiko
  • Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.1943568

Benzene Adsorption: A Significant Inhibitor for the Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction in Alkaline Conditions
journal, September 2017

  • Matanovic, Ivana; Chung, Hoon Taek; Kim, Yu Seung
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 19
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b02228

Approaches and Recent Development of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel Cells Operating above 100 °C
journal, December 2003

  • Li, Qingfeng; He, Ronghuan; Jensen, Jens Oluf
  • Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 26
  • DOI: 10.1021/cm0310519

Intermediate temperature stable proton conductors based upon SnP2O7, including additional H3PO4
journal, January 2010

  • Xu, Xiaoxiang; Tao, Shanwen; Wormald, Philip
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 20, Issue 36
  • DOI: 10.1039/c0jm01089h

Transformation of Rusty Stainless-Steel Meshes into Stable, Low-Cost, and Binder-Free Cathodes for High-Performance Potassium-Ion Batteries
journal, June 2017

  • Zhu, Yun-hai; Yin, Yan-bin; Yang, Xu
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 56, Issue 27
  • DOI: 10.1002/anie.201702711

Readily processed protonic ceramic fuel cells with high performance at low temperatures
journal, July 2015


Mesoporous lanthanum phosphate nanostructures containing H3PO4 as superior electrolyte for PEM fuel cells
journal, January 2013

  • Chai, Zhanli; Suo, Quanyu; Wang, Hui
  • RSC Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 44
  • DOI: 10.1039/c3ra42094a

An operationally flexible fuel cell based on quaternary ammonium-biphosphate ion pairs
journal, August 2016

  • Lee, Kwan-Soo; Spendelow, Jacob S.; Choe, Yoong-Kee
  • Nature Energy, Vol. 1, Issue 9, Article No. 16120
  • DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2016.120

CsH 2 PO 4 /Polyvinylidene Fluoride Composite Electrolytes for Intermediate Temperature Fuel Cells
journal, January 2014

  • Qing, Geletu; Kikuchi, Ryuji; Takagaki, Atsushi
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 161, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1149/2.052404jes

High-Temperature Polybenzimidazole Fuel Cell Membranes via a Sol−Gel Process
journal, September 2005

  • Xiao, Lixiang; Zhang, Haifeng; Scanlon, Eugene
  • Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 17, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1021/cm050831+

High-Performance Solid Acid Fuel Cells Through Humidity Stabilization
journal, January 2004


Intermediate-Temperature Fuel Cell Employing CsH[sub 2]PO[sub 4]∕SiP[sub 2]O[sub 7]-Based Composite Electrolytes
journal, January 2006

  • Matsui, Toshiaki; Kukino, Tomokazu; Kikuchi, Ryuji
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 153, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.2142211

Nanoporous alumina membranes filled with solid acid for thin film fuel cells at intermediate temperatures
journal, September 2004


Proton Conduction in In[sup 3+]-Doped SnP[sub 2]O[sub 7] at Intermediate Temperatures
journal, January 2006

  • Nagao, Masahiro; Kamiya, Toshio; Heo, Pilwon
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 153, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.2210669

Proton conduction in metal pyrophosphates (MP2O7) at intermediate temperatures
journal, January 2010

  • Jin, Yongcheng; Shen, Yanbai; Hibino, Takashi
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 20, Issue 30
  • DOI: 10.1039/b924188d

Stability and Conductivity of In3+-Doped SnP2O7 with Varying Phosphorous to Metal Ratios
journal, January 2013

  • Kreller, C. R.; Wilson, M. S.; Mukundan, R.
  • ECS Electrochemistry Letters, Vol. 2, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1149/2.002309eel

Beyond catalysis and membranes: visualizing and solving the challenge of electrode water accumulation and flooding in AEMFCs
journal, January 2018

  • Omasta, Travis J.; Park, Andrew M.; LaManna, Jacob M.
  • Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 11, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1039/C8EE00122G

A Flexible and Wearable Lithium-Oxygen Battery with Record Energy Density achieved by the Interlaced Architecture inspired by Bamboo Slips
journal, August 2016


Cation–Hydroxide–Water Coadsorption Inhibits the Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction
journal, October 2016

  • Chung, Hoon Taek; Martinez, Ulises; Matanovic, Ivana
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 22
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b02025

Conductivity of SnP2O7 and In-doped SnP2O7 prepared by an aqueous solution method
journal, March 2009


Advanced Electrodes for Solid Acid Fuel Cells by Platinum Deposition on CsH 2 PO 4
journal, April 2011

  • Papandrew, Alexander B.; Chisholm, Calum R. I.; Elgammal, Ramez A.
  • Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1021/cm101147y

Effect of Organic Cations on Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction of Carbon Supported Platinum
journal, January 2016

  • Chung, Hoon Taek; Choe, Yoong-Kee; Martinez, Ulises
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 163, Issue 14
  • DOI: 10.1149/2.0511614jes

An Ultrathin Self-Humidifying Membrane for PEM Fuel Cell Application:  Fabrication, Characterization, and Experimental Analysis
journal, July 2006

  • Zhu, Xiaobing; Zhang, Huamin; Zhang, Yu
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 110, Issue 29
  • DOI: 10.1021/jp061955s

CO tolerance and CO oxidation at Pt and Pt–Ru anode catalysts in fuel cell with polybenzimidazole–H3PO4 membrane
journal, August 2010


Proton conduction in non-doped and acceptor-doped metal pyrophosphate (MP2O7) composite ceramics at intermediate temperatures
journal, January 2012

  • Sato, Yousuke; Shen, Yanbai; Nishida, Masakazu
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 22, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1039/c2jm15335a

The effects of battlefield contaminants on PEMFC performance
journal, February 2000


The Membrane–Electrode Interface in PEFCs
journal, January 2007

  • Pivovar, B. S.; Kim, Y. S.
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 154, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.2740005

Intragranular Phase Proton Conduction in Crystalline Sn 1– x In x P 2 O 7 ( x = 0 and 0.1)
journal, October 2017

  • Kreller, Cortney R.; Pham, Hieu H.; Wilson, Mahlon S.
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 43
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b06060

Nanocrack-regulated self-humidifying membranes
journal, April 2016

  • Park, Chi Hoon; Lee, So Young; Hwang, Doo Sung
  • Nature, Vol. 532, Issue 7600
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature17634

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells: Current status and remaining challenges
journal, January 2018


Proton conductivity of CeP2O7 for intermediate temperature fuel cells
journal, September 2008


Solid acids as fuel cell electrolytes
journal, April 2001

  • Haile, Sossina M.; Boysen, Dane A.; Chisholm, Calum R. I.
  • Nature, Vol. 410, Issue 6831
  • DOI: 10.1038/35073536

Influence of phosphate anion adsorption on the kinetics of oxygen electroreduction on low index Pt(hkl) single crystals
journal, January 2010

  • He, Qinggang; Yang, Xiaofang; Chen, Wei
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 39
  • DOI: 10.1039/c0cp00433b

Proton conductivity of mesoporous zirconium phosphate pyrophosphate
journal, October 1999


Efficient, Anhydrous Proton-Conducting Nanofilms of Y-Doped Zirconium Pyrophosphate at Intermediate Temperatures
journal, June 2008

  • Li, Yuanzhi; Kunitake, Toyoki; Aoki, Yoshitaka
  • Advanced Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1002/adma.200702590

A Proton-Conducting In[sup 3+]-Doped SnP[sub 2]O[sub 7] Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Fuel Cells
journal, January 2006

  • Nagao, Masahiro; Takeuchi, Akihiko; Heo, Pilwon
  • Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.2159298

Porous Hollow Carbon@Sulfur Composites for High-Power Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
journal, May 2011

  • Jayaprakash, N.; Shen, J.; Moganty, Surya S.
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 50, Issue 26, p. 5904-5908
  • DOI: 10.1002/anie.201100637

The Membrane–Electrode Interface in PEFCs
journal, January 2010

  • Kim, Yu Seung; Pivovar, Bryan S.
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 157, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.3481580

High-Performance Solid Acid Fuel Cells Through Humidity Stabilization.
journal, April 2004

  • Boysen, Dane A.; Uda, Tetsuya; Chisholm, Calum R. I.
  • ChemInform, Vol. 35, Issue 14
  • DOI: 10.1002/chin.200414018

The Membrane–Electrode Interface in PEFCs
journal, January 2010

  • Kim, Yu Seung; Pivovar, Bryan S.
  • Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 157, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1149/1.3481581

Works referencing / citing this record:

The Nature of Proton Shuttling in Protic Ionic Liquid Fuel Cells
journal, May 2019


Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.