Abstract
Low-cost anion exchange membrane fuel cells have been investigated as a promising alternative to proton exchange membrane fuel cells for the last decade. The major barriers to the viability of anion exchange membrane fuel cells are their unsatisfactory key components—anion exchange ionomers and membranes. Here, we present a series of durable poly(fluorenyl aryl piperidinium) ionomers and membranes where the membranes possess high OH− conductivity of 208 mS cm−1 at 80 °C, low H2 permeability, excellent mechanical properties (84.5 MPa TS), and 2000 h ex-situ durability in 1 M NaOH at 80 °C, while the ionomers have high water vapor permeability and low phenyl adsorption. Based on our rational design of poly(fluorenyl aryl piperidinium) membranes and ionomers, we demonstrate alkaline fuel cell performances of 2.34 W cm−2 in H2-O2 and 1.25 W cm−2 in H2-air (CO2-free) at 80 °C. The present cells can be operated stably under a 0.2 A cm−2 current density for ~200 h.
Highlights
Low-cost anion exchange membrane fuel cells have been investigated as a promising alternative to proton exchange membrane fuel cells for the last decade
Mandal et al.[31,33] reported that H2–O2 Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) based on benzyl trimethylammonium (BTMA)-ETFE ionomers and PTFE-reinforced poly(norbornene) (PNB) AEMs reached a peak power density (PPD) over 3 W cm−2 at 80 °C with a 0.70 mg cm−2 Pt–Ru/C anode
poly(fluorenyl aryl piperidinium) (PFAP) anion exchange ionomers (AEIs) were rationally designed to combine the merits of currently representative BTMA-ETFE29,30, alkyl ammonium PF34, and PAP ionomers[17,36], and overcome their drawbacks
Summary
Low-cost anion exchange membrane fuel cells have been investigated as a promising alternative to proton exchange membrane fuel cells for the last decade. We present a series of durable poly(fluorenyl aryl piperidinium) ionomers and membranes where the membranes possess high OH− conductivity of 208 mS cm−1 at 80 °C, low H2 permeability, excellent mechanical properties (84.5 MPa TS), and 2000 h ex-situ durability in 1 M NaOH at 80 °C, while the ionomers have high water vapor permeability and low phenyl adsorption. Based on our rational design of poly (fluorenyl aryl piperidinium) membranes and ionomers, we demonstrate alkaline fuel cell performances of 2.34 W cm−2 in H2-O2 and 1.25 W cm−2 in H2-air (CO2-free) at 80 °C. Wang et al.[29] reported an AEMFC based on BTMA-type poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (BTMA-ETFE) ionomers and high-density polyethylene (BTMA-HDPE) AEMs that reached a peak power density (PPD) over 2 W cm−2 at 80 °C in H2–O2 with a 0.70 mg cm−2 Pt–Ru/C anode. AEIs with rigid FLN groups are expected to improve the water vapor permeability (or water diffusivity) and decrease the phenyl adsorption effect
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