Bipolar-interface fuel cells – an underestimated membrane electrode assembly concept for PGM-free ORR catalysts

Abstract

We present the first combination of a bipolar interface fuel cell with a commercial Fe–N/C catalyst as an alkaline cathode and a PGM-based, acidic anode, both separated by a proton exchange membrane (PEM).

On the effect of anion exchange ionomer binders in bipolar electrode membrane interface water electrolysis

“…However, water management remains an unsolved problem hindering high current density operation. 19 In water electrolysis, the opposite conguration is considered more advantageous: An AEM for the anode side is expected to enable the use of low-cost oxygen evolution (OER) catalysts. In contrast, the cathode side is kept in a PEM environment as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) requires only very low amounts of Pt catalyst and is favorable in acidic media.…”

Bipolar‐Interface Hydrogen Fuel Cells: A Review and Perspective on Future High‐Performance, Low Platinum‐Group Metal Content Designs

“…When comparing a PEMFC and a BPIFC, both employing the identical FeÀ N/C catalyst at the cathode electrode, it is clear that the unique design of the BPIFC introduces various additional factors, compared to the PEMFC, that restrict the power density of the BPIFC (Figure 8). [20] Both MEAs had comparable cathode electrode layer thicknesses, were operated under identical conditions and after the initial break-in procedure there was no evidence of mass transport limitations in the polarization data of either cell. As catalyst degradation was excluded as the main source, the mass transport limitations that appeared in the BPIFC after an extended constant current hold were assigned to the more complex water management of the bipolar system compared to the PEMFC system.…”

“…Since still profiting from low amounts of PGMs at the anode (fast HOR in acidic media), the highly challenging search for stable non-PGM, HOR catalysts in alkaline media would diminish. [16,20]…”

“…Those GDLs can be found in the work of Ünlü et al, [12][13][14] Ahlfield et al, [39] Peng et al, [18,30] Li et al, [15] Gong et al, [40] Xu et al [19] and Shen et al [41] One study was conducted by Seeberger et al employing a wet-proofed GDL/MPL system. [20] Also only a single study by Arges et al investigated non-wet proofed gas diffusion layers at the cathode side for the application in bipolar-interface fuel cell. [16] Despite the strong impact of GDL-systems on the overall device performance, as commonly observed in PEMFC and AEMFC research, only the work of Arges et al investigated the influence of gas diffusion layers for bipolar fuel cell configurations.…”

“…Experimental work by Seeberger et al could prove that the state and quality of the bipolar interface is one of the key elements to manipulate the performance of bipolar interface fuel cells. [20] Seeberger et al investigated different bipolar interfaces, by either creating the bipolar interface through compression of a PEM with an alkaline electrode (c-BPMFC) or by directly depositing the PEM onto the alkaline electrode (d-BPMFC). The schematic illustration of the different MEAs and their electrochemical performance is pictured in Figure 12.…”