A study of the performance of SPEEK electrolyte of a novel PEMFC

Abstract

Abstract Analysis of performance of fuel cell is carried out by considering non-fluorinated
electrolyte and variety of potential electrodes. The study spans low temperature regions
and carried out MD investigation of transport of ions in a novel PEM fuel cell (PEMFC),
which is composed of electrodes and SPEEK as a non-fluorinated electrolyte. Typical
values of ion conductivity σ near room temperature are σ = 8.5×10−2 S/cm when
Pt is used as electrode, σ = 26×10−2 S/cm when Pd3Ag is used as electrode, and
σ = 0.34×10−2 S/cm when Pd is used as electrode. Thus, this study reveals a twofold
implications. Firstly, the choice of electrolyte affects whether the traditional Pt electrode
remains to be superior for the overall fuel cell performance. Secondly, using SPEEK
electrolyte has a potential to yield a closely matching ion conductivity with the one
obtained from the costly Nafion electrolyte.