Graphene Oxide-Hydrogen Membrane Fuel Cell

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) utilizes polymer electrolyte membrane, e.g., Nafion™, which is a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane with many disadvantages such as expensive, low mechanical strength, low chemical stability at high temperatures. Meanwhile, graphene oxide membrane (GOM) is an excellent proton conductor at room temperature under humidified conditions. However, graphene oxide membrane fuel cells (GOMFCs) exhibit low maximum power density compared to Nafion due to fuel gas crossover, membrane degradation and loss of surface functionalities. In this study, bilayer membrane consisting of GOM and hydrogen permeable metal thin film was investigated as electrolyte membrane for hydrogen membrane fuel cell (HMFC). In this fuel cell, the graphene oxide-hydrogen membrane (GOHM) simultaneously plays two roles, an anode catalyst and an electrolyte. A hydrogen permeable metal thin film of about 40 nm was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering at a suitable pressure and deposition time on a 12 µm-thick GOM using a Pd or Ni64Zr36 target to complete the bilayer GOHM electrolyte. The fuel cell performance of the GOHMFC using with Pt-free anode was compared with the GOHMFC with conventional Pt/C electrodes and conventional PEMFC.