Performance investigation of alkaline direct methanol fuel cell with commercial PGM-free cathodic materials

Investigation of Fumasep® FAA3-50 Membranes in Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

“…In the literature, some comparable results were obtained by employing similar electrocatalysts but different AEMs, thus demonstrating that the FAA3-50 membrane is suitable for this application [ 24 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 44 ]. Other works reported a higher performance when non-noble metals substitute Pt-based catalysts, mainly at the cathode side [ 23 , 45 , 46 , 47 ] or with higher KOH concentration and catalyst loadings [ 38 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. The dependence of improved performance with increasing KOH concentration was ascertained by many studies (see references in Table 2 ), whereas a compromise between KOH feeding and the obtainment of a less corrosive environment for hardware components is necessary.…”

“…Alkaline direct methanol fuel cell (ADMFC) technology exploits the same principle of DMFC, whereas the two redox reactions, shown in Equations (4) and (5) and represented by the whole process in Equation (6), occur in an alkaline environment where the electrolyte is represented by an alkaline anion exchange membrane (AEM) able to exchange OH − between electrodes [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Generally, electrochemical reactions in ADMFC are kinetically favored compared to protonic ones due to the presence of hydroxide anions at the anode that accelerates the MOR and the leakage of carbonate and bicarbonate in the outlet [ 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, an alkaline environment is less corrosive than an acid medium, thus opening the possibility of employing non-precious metal catalysts for both MOR and ORR with potentially higher durability [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Synthesis of MnOOH and its application in a supporting hexagonal Pd/C catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

“…[13][14][15] However, in alkaline medium, using platinum as an example, the electrode reaction kinetics decreased by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude compared to acidic medium, which seriously hindered the development of alkaline membrane fuel cells and the alkaline water electrolysis technology. [16][17][18] Many non-precious metals and non-precious metal oxides have some ORR catalytic activity, limited by the material itself, and their catalytic performance is generally low. 19 Since non-precious metals and their oxides have certain catalytic activity, the performance of the catalyst can be improved by loading a certain amount of precious metals and doping conductive substances.…”

Effect of the calcination temperature on the characteristics of Ni/Fe-oxide electrocatalysts for application in anion exchange membrane electrolysers

“…10 Recently, the optimization of alkaline polymeric membranes has given a tremendous impetus to their application in fuel cells or electrolyzers. 11–17…”

“…10 Recently, the optimization of alkaline polymeric membranes has given a tremendous impetus to their application in fuel cells or electrolyzers. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The anion exchange membrane (AEM) improvement in durability has allowed the exploitation of the AEM electrolysis obtaining results comparable with the PEM technology with the further advantage of using non-platinum-group-metal (PGM) catalysts. [18][19][20][21] Precious metal catalysts are expensive and limited; this hinders large-scale applications.…”