Abstract
Platinum (Pt) and ruthenium (Ru) were sputtered on an electrolyte membrane and it was used as a membrane-electrode assembly for passive direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) operating with high concentration methanol solution (4 M). Thick (Pt of 300 nm and Ru of 150 nm) and thin (Pt of 150 nm and Ru of 75 nm) sputtered catalysts were prepared and their performance was first evaluated to find out the best sputtering conditions showing higher performance. Subsequently, four electrolyte membranes with different surface roughness were prepared to investigate its influence on the performance. As a result, the performance of the passive DMFC showed increasing tendency as the roughness is low, while the performance was decreased as the roughness was high, indicating there exists an optimal roughness of the electrolyte membrane. It was further investigated through morphological study through electron microscopy that such performance variation is attributed to the surface of sputtered Pt–Ru catalyst on the rough electrolyte membrane that adequate roughness induces the increase of reactive area while a too rough surface bears the poor contact of it with gas-diffusion layer.
Highlights
Many researchers have been working on the investigation of the alternatives of current market-leading lithium-ion batteries to store more energy in a limited volume
Pt and Ru were sputtered directly on an electrolyte membrane (Nafion® 117) and it was applied as an membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) for passive direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) for the first time
Bi-layered Pt–Ru catalysts layer was successfully fabricated by sputtering and surface roughness of an electrolyte membrane was precisely controlled using sandpapers with different roughness level, which were confirmed by scanning-electron microscopy (SEM) images
Summary
Many researchers have been working on the investigation of the alternatives of current market-leading lithium-ion batteries to store more energy in a limited volume. One of the technologies is considered as a fuel cell because fuel cells have potentially higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries [1,2,3]. It is noticeable that the recent world-champion record of the flight time of quad-/hexa-rotors exceeds 12 h and it has been enabled by employing PEMFCs with liquid hydrogen storage [15].
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