Durable and self-hydrating tungsten carbide-based composite polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
Abstract
Proton conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membranes in fuel cells dictates their performance and requires sufficient water management. Here, we report a simple, scalable method to produce well-dispersed transition metal carbide nanoparticles. We demonstrate that these, when added as an additive to the proton exchange Nafion membrane, provide significant enhancement in power density and durability over 100 hours, surpassing both the baseline Nafion and platinum-containing recast Nafion membranes. Using focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope tomography reveals the key membrane degradation mechanism. Density functional theory exposes that OH• and H• radicals adsorb more strongly from solution and reactions producing OH• are significantly more endergonic on tungsten carbide than on platinum. Consequently, tungsten carbide may be a promising catalyst in self-hydrating crossover gases while retarding desorption of and capturing free radicals formed at the cathode, resulting in enhanced membrane durability.
- Authors:
-
[2];
- Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation and Center for Catalytic Science and Technology
- Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Center for Full Cell Research
- Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1425195
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0001004
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; Electrocatalysis; fuel cells
Citation Formats
Zheng, Weiqing, Wang, Liang, Deng, Fei, Giles, Stephen A., Prasad, Ajay K., Advani, Suresh G., Yan, Yushan, and Vlachos, Dionisios G. Durable and self-hydrating tungsten carbide-based composite polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00507-6.
Zheng, Weiqing, Wang, Liang, Deng, Fei, Giles, Stephen A., Prasad, Ajay K., Advani, Suresh G., Yan, Yushan, & Vlachos, Dionisios G. Durable and self-hydrating tungsten carbide-based composite polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00507-6
Zheng, Weiqing, Wang, Liang, Deng, Fei, Giles, Stephen A., Prasad, Ajay K., Advani, Suresh G., Yan, Yushan, and Vlachos, Dionisios G. Mon .
"Durable and self-hydrating tungsten carbide-based composite polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00507-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1425195.
@article{osti_1425195,
title = {Durable and self-hydrating tungsten carbide-based composite polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells},
author = {Zheng, Weiqing and Wang, Liang and Deng, Fei and Giles, Stephen A. and Prasad, Ajay K. and Advani, Suresh G. and Yan, Yushan and Vlachos, Dionisios G.},
abstractNote = {Proton conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membranes in fuel cells dictates their performance and requires sufficient water management. Here, we report a simple, scalable method to produce well-dispersed transition metal carbide nanoparticles. We demonstrate that these, when added as an additive to the proton exchange Nafion membrane, provide significant enhancement in power density and durability over 100 hours, surpassing both the baseline Nafion and platinum-containing recast Nafion membranes. Using focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope tomography reveals the key membrane degradation mechanism. Density functional theory exposes that OH• and H• radicals adsorb more strongly from solution and reactions producing OH• are significantly more endergonic on tungsten carbide than on platinum. Consequently, tungsten carbide may be a promising catalyst in self-hydrating crossover gases while retarding desorption of and capturing free radicals formed at the cathode, resulting in enhanced membrane durability.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-017-00507-6},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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