U.S. DOE Progress Towards Developing Low-Cost, High Performance, Durable Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications.

Cassidy Houchins,Jason Marcinkoski,Donna Ho,Kathi Martin,Greg Kleen,Dimitrios Papageorgopoulos,Reginald Tyler,John Kopasz,Jacob Spendelow,Nancy Garland,David Peterson

doi:10.3390/membranes2040855

Abstract

Low cost, durable, and selective membranes with high ionic conductivity are a priority need for wide-spread adoption of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Electrolyte membranes are a major cost component of PEMFC stacks at low production volumes. PEMFC membranes also impose limitations on fuel cell system operating conditions that add system complexity and cost. Reactant gas and fuel permeation through the membrane leads to decreased fuel cell performance, loss of efficiency, and reduced durability in both PEMFCs and DMFCs. To address these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program, in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, supports research and development aimed at improving ion exchange membranes for fuel cells. For PEMFCs, efforts are primarily focused on developing materials for higher temperature operation (up to 120 °C) in automotive applications. For DMFCs, efforts are focused on developing membranes with reduced methanol permeability. In this paper, the recently revised DOE membrane targets, strategies, and highlights of DOE-funded projects to develop new, inexpensive membranes that have good performance in hot and dry conditions (PEMFC) and that reduce methanol crossover (DMFC) will be discussed.

Highlights

In 2010, transportation accounted for 28% of the total energy used in the United States, and 93% of the fuel used for transportation came from petroleum [1]
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) directly fueled by hydrogen are well-suited to applications, such as light-duty vehicles and back-up power, that require fast start up times
We review the recently revised targets and highlight Department of Energy (DOE)’s approaches and recent progress achieved in advancing membranes for fuel cell applications

Summary

Introduction

In 2010, transportation accounted for 28% of the total energy used in the United States, and 93% of the fuel used for transportation came from petroleum [1]. In order to compete with ICE vehicles on cost, durability and performance, the DOE has set system level fuel cell targets and supports efforts to develop a 60% efficient (at 25% of rated power), 5000 h durable, direct hydrogen fuel cell power system for transportation applications at a cost of $30/kW [3]. As discussed above, lowering the humidification requirements and increasing the operating temperature will decrease the cost and complexity of the fuel cell system by allowing the water and thermal management systems to be simplified or eliminated altogether. In addition to reducing the cost and complexity, fuel cell performance is improved due to faster oxygen reduction reaction kinetics at higher temperatures, allowing use of a smaller, less-expensive stack. We review the recently revised targets and highlight DOE’s approaches and recent progress achieved in advancing membranes for fuel cell applications

DOE Targets

High Temperature Membranes for Automotive PEMFC

DMFC Membranes for Portable Power Applications

Findings

Conclusions