Graphene and Graphene Oxide in Low Temperature Fuel Cells for Enhanced Performance.

Abstract

Graphene, Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) and Graphene Oxide have been incorporated into PEM fuel cell Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEA’s). Graphene Oxide (GO) has been added to the MEA of a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) providing additional tortuosity and hence reduced methanol permeability, the optimisation of the GO loading has led to superior performance(up to 50% improvement in power density) when compared to a standard DMFC.The addition of CVD graphene onto the MEA of a DMFC has demonstrated no change in proton conductivity but lower methanol permeability, supporting the hypothesis of CVD graphene as a proton conductor and again increasing the power density of the DMFC by up to 50%.