Abstract
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising clean energy conversion devices in residential, transportation, and portable applications. Currently, a high-pressure tank is the state-of-the-art mode of hydrogen storage; however, the energy cost, safety, and portability (or volumetric hydrogen storage capacity) presents a major barrier to the widespread dissemination of PEMFCs. Here we show an ‘all-polymer type’ rechargeable PEMFC (RCFC) that contains a hydrogen-storable polymer (HSP), which is a solid-state organic hydride, as the hydrogen storage media. Use of a gas impermeable SPP-QP (a polyphenylene-based PEM) enhances the operable time, reaching up to ca. 10.2 s mgHSP−1, which is more than a factor of two longer than that (3.90 s mgHSP−1) for a Nafion NRE-212 membrane cell. The RCFCs are cycleable, at least up to 50 cycles. The features of this RCFC system, including safety, ease of handling, and light weight, suggest applications in mobile, light-weight hydrogen-based energy devices.
Highlights
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising clean energy conversion devices in residential, transportation, and portable applications
The hydrogen-storable polymer (HSP) sheet as a hydrogen-releasing/fixing media was attached onto the catalyst layer (CL) of the anode side
The maximum operable time was observed for the SPP-QP cell at a constant current density of 1 mA cm−2 and reached ca. 10.2 s mgHSP−1, which was more than a factor of two longer than that (3.90 s mgHSP−1) for the Nafion NRE-212 cell under the same conditions
Summary
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising clean energy conversion devices in residential, transportation, and portable applications. A high-pressure (70 MPa) tank (three layers, glass fiber-reinforced plastic layer/carbon fiberreinforced plastic layer/plastic liner), with a gravimetric hydrogen-storage capacity of 5.7 wt% (hydrogen weight/total weight of the tank system), is used as the state-of-the-art mode of hydrogen storage in commercial FCVs12; this system suffers from issues of volumetric hydrogen-storage capacity (or portability), safety, and energy cost To address these issues, hydrogen-storable materials have been extensively explored[13]. Kariya et al proposed a rechargeable PEMFC system using cyclohexane as the hydrogen-storage material[18] They operated a small-scale (4 cm2) single cell and achieved an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 920 mV and a maximum power density of 14–15 mW cm−2 at 100 °C; this system required extra components such as a fuel reservoir, feed pump, and vaporizer, which counteracted the advantage of the high storage capacity of the organic hydrides. We propose an “all-polymer type” rechargeable PEMFC system, by applying the HSP sheet as a hydrogen-storage medium inside the cell, which neither requires pressurized hydrogen tank nor cumbersome metal hydrides
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