Integration of a high oxygen permeability ionomer into polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell cathodes for high efficiency and power density

Braaten, Jonathan P.; Kariuki, Nancy N.; Myers, Deborah J. B.; Blackburn, Scott; Brown, Gerald O.; Park, Andrew; Litster, Shawn

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230821

Title: Integration of a high oxygen permeability ionomer into polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell cathodes for high efficiency and power density

Journal Article · Thu Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Journal of Power Sources

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230821· OSTI ID:1875046

Braaten, Jonathan P. ^[1]; Kariuki, Nancy N. ^[2]; Myers, Deborah J. B. ^[2]; Blackburn, Scott ^[3]; Brown, Gerald O. ^[3];

^[3];

^[1]

Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
Chemours Company, Newark, DE (United States)

In this work, we present a study on the integration of a high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI) with high durability carbon supported platinum (Pt/C) catalysts to prepare cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A key motivation is the production of PEMFCs with high efficiency and durability for heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles. Our results from integrating a pre-commercial HOPI with robust, state-of-the-art catalysts with medium and low surface area carbon supports show significant increases in specific activities (67% increase over the standard commercial ionomer) at low current densities and reduced oxygen (O₂) transport resistances (R_O2’s) at high current densities, enabling both higher efficiency and peak power density. The reduction in the R_O2 with the HOPI is most significant at low relative humidity (RH), due to its more rigid backbone structure resisting compaction at lower water contents. In our ink optimization analysis, we show that the HOPI in this study achieves its peak performance with an ionomer to carbon ratio (I/C) of 0.6 and a moderately alcohol-rich ink solvent when fabricating catalyst layers by the decal method with an automatic wet film coater.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Fuel Cell Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; DE0008822

OSTI ID:: 1875046

Journal Information:: Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 522; ISSN 0378-7753

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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cathode catalyst layer
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Title: Integration of a high oxygen permeability ionomer into polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell cathodes for high efficiency and power density

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