Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions

Li, Hongfei; Pan, Cheng; Zhao, Sijia; Liu, Ping; Zhu, Yimei; Rafailovich, Miriam H.

doi:10.1016/j.jcat.2016.03.031

Title: Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions

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Abstract

We developed a method for fabrication of Au nanoparticle platelets which can be coated onto the Nafion membranes of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells simply by Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) trough lift off from the air water interface. By incorporating the coated membranes into fuel cells with one membrane electrode assembly (MEA) we enhanced the maximum power output by more than 50% when operated under ambient conditions. An enhancement of more than 200% was observed when 0.1% CO was incorporated into the H₂ input gas stream and minimal enhancement was observed when the PEM fuel cell was operated with 100% O₂ gas at the cathode, or when particles were deposited on the electrodes. Density function theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to understand the origin of improved output power. Au NPs with 3-atomic layer in height and 2 nm in size were constructed to model the experimentally synthesized Au NPs. Our results indicated that the Au NPs interacted synergistically with the SO₃ groups, attached at end of Nafion side chains, to reduce the energy barrier for the oxidation of CO occurring at the perimeter of the Au NPs, from 1.292 eV to 0.518 eV, enabling the reaction to occur at T<300more » K.« less

Authors:

Li, Hongfei ^[1]; Pan, Cheng ^[1]; Zhao, Sijia ^[1]; Liu, Ping ^[2]; Zhu, Yimei ^[3]; Rafailovich, Miriam H. ^[1]

State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook, NY (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Dept. of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science

Publication Date:: Sat Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1336109

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1341149

Report Number(s):: BNL-112555-2016-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 0021-9517; R&D Project: CO009; KC0302010

Grant/Contract Number:: SC00112704; SC-00112704; NYSERDA29750

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Catalysis

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 339; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-9517

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; PEM fuel cell; Gold nanoplatelets; CO oxidation

Citation Formats


                    Li, Hongfei, Pan, Cheng, Zhao, Sijia, Liu, Ping, Zhu, Yimei, and Rafailovich, Miriam H. Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.jcat.2016.03.031.

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                    Li, Hongfei, Pan, Cheng, Zhao, Sijia, Liu, Ping, Zhu, Yimei, & Rafailovich, Miriam H. Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2016.03.031

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                    Li, Hongfei, Pan, Cheng, Zhao, Sijia, Liu, Ping, Zhu, Yimei, and Rafailovich, Miriam H. Sat .  
"Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2016.03.031.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1336109.

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@article{osti_1336109,

  title        = {Enhancing performance of PEM fuel cells: Using the Au nanoplatelet/Nafion interface to enable CO oxidation under ambient conditions},

  author       = {Li, Hongfei and Pan, Cheng and Zhao, Sijia and Liu, Ping and Zhu, Yimei and Rafailovich, Miriam H.},

  abstractNote = {We developed a method for fabrication of Au nanoparticle platelets which can be coated onto the Nafion membranes of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells simply by Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) trough lift off from the air water interface. By incorporating the coated membranes into fuel cells with one membrane electrode assembly (MEA) we enhanced the maximum power output by more than 50% when operated under ambient conditions. An enhancement of more than 200% was observed when 0.1% CO was incorporated into the H2 input gas stream and minimal enhancement was observed when the PEM fuel cell was operated with 100% O2 gas at the cathode, or when particles were deposited on the electrodes. Density function theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to understand the origin of improved output power. Au NPs with 3-atomic layer in height and 2 nm in size were constructed to model the experimentally synthesized Au NPs. Our results indicated that the Au NPs interacted synergistically with the SO3 groups, attached at end of Nafion side chains, to reduce the energy barrier for the oxidation of CO occurring at the perimeter of the Au NPs, from 1.292 eV to 0.518 eV, enabling the reaction to occur at T<300 K.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.jcat.2016.03.031},

  journal      = {Journal of Catalysis},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 339,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Sat Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016},

  month        = {Sat Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016}

}

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