Beyond 1.0 W cm⁻²Performance without Platinum: The Beginning of a New Era in Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

This work reports a high power, stable, completely Pt-free anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) comprised of highly active catalysts -Pd-CeO 2 /C at the anode and PdCu/C alloy at the cathode for the hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions, respectively. The resulting AEMFC shows outstanding performance, reaching a peak power density of 1 W cm −2 , twice the value of the best performance for Pt-free cells reported in the literature to date. The AEMFC also shows a low voltage degradation rate when operated continuously for more than 100 h at a constant 0.5 A cm −2 , with a voltage degradation rate of only 2.5 mV h -1 , which is excellent when compared to nearly all of the AEMFCs reported in the literature to date. This combination of high performance and high stability in the absence of Pt-based catalysts represents a significant landmark in the progress of the AEMFC technology.

Electrospun Ionomeric Fibers with Anion Conducting Properties

“…The nonacidic environment of AEMFCs allows the use of nonprecious metal catalysts, which intensely reduces the cost per kilowatt of power of fuel cell devices . In spite of the latest technological progress related to electrocatalysts and to the understanding of carbonation issues, one of the main remaining challenges in the AEMFCs is the availability of good, stable anion conducting membranes that enable the hydroxide anion and water conduction through the polymeric network, both as an anion exchange membrane (AEM) and as anion exchange ionomers (AEIs).…”

Effect of Pyrolysis Atmosphere and Electrolyte pH on the Oxygen Reduction Activity, Stability and Spectroscopic Signature of FeNx Moieties in Fe-N-C Catalysts

“…34 This makes it promising for the application of Fe-N-C catalysts based on FeN 4 moieties in anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). [35][36][37] In particular, the AEMFC environment might allow combining the highest ORR activity of NH 3 -pyrolyzed Fe-N-C catalysts with high durability. Expectation for high durability is supported by i) the stability at high pH of highly-basic N-groups present in NH 3 -pyrolyzed catalysts and ii) the lack of peroxide-induced deactivation at high pH on a specific Ar-pyrolyzed Fe-N-C catalyst comprising exclusively FeN 4 sites.…”

MWCNTs-Supported Pd(II) Complexes with High Catalytic Efficiency in Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Media

“…in terms of mass activity, by the US DOE, requiring that a threshold current is produced per quantity of PGM under certain conditions (440 mA/mg PGM at 0.9 V vs RHE) in acidic media. 7 Herein we report a hydrodynamic study on the half-cell, as it is best practice for benchmarking ORR catalysts performances, 8,9 conducted on two novel Pd(II)-based catalysts in alkaline solutions, as Pt-free alkaline fuel cells were recently proved [10][11][12] to be efficient in delivering stable performances and power density above 1 W cm -2 . One of our new catalyst exceeds target mass ac-tivity value by over 10%, featuring an E on identical or better than that of a Pt electrode (0.91 V vs RHE) and an almost exclusive (96.5% at 0.9 V vs RHE) 4 eprocess, i.e.…”