Performance of an HT‐PEMFC having a catalyst with graphene and multiwalled carbon nanotube support

Abstract

Summary In this study, the effect of multiwalled carbon nanotube and graphene nanoplatelet‐based catalyst supports on the performance of reformate gas‐fed polybenzimidazole (PBI)‐based high‐temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT‐PEMFC) was investigated. In addition, the effect of several microwave conditions on the performance of the Pt‐Ru/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) catalyst was assessed. Through X‐ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy, the catalysts' chemical structure and morphology were characterized. Cyclic voltammetry analysis was used for the electrochemical characterization of catalysts through an electrochemical cell with three electrodes connected to a potentiostat. The results showed that the best performing catalyst is the catalyst produced using 800‐W power for 40 seconds. The electrochemically active surface area values of this catalyst ranged from 54 to 45 m2/g. Single‐cell performance tests of the HT‐PEMFC were then carried out. In these tests, reformate gas mixture, consisting of H2, CO2, and CO, was fed to the anode side at 160°C without humidification. These tests for the best performing catalyst yielded peak power density of 0.280 W/cm2 and current density (at 0.6 V) of 0.180 A/cm2 in the H2/air environment and peak power density of 0.266 W/cm2 and current density (at 0.6 V) of 0.171 A/cm2 in the reformate gas/air environment. As a result of the experiments, it was found that Pt‐Ru/MWCNT‐GNP hybrid material is a suitable catalyst for HT‐PEMFC.

Application of the meta‐heuristics for optimizing exergy of a HT‐PEMFC

“…To analysis and to model of the exergy efficiency of the studied HT-PEMFC, some assumptions should be considered which are given in the following. 11 First of all, the studied HT-PEMFC has been considered such that operates under steady-state conditions and the gases are considered ideal. The humidity in the input H 2 and O 2 has been neglected in the exergy evaluation.…”

“…Polymer membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are kinds of useful fuel cells that use a polymer membrane as an electrolyte . The PEMFCs have some important characteristics that make them different from the other fuel cells such as fast operation, high efficiency, and no contamination . Recently, several theoretical and empirical techniques have been analyzed for PEMFCs .…”

“…6,7 The PEMFCs have some important characteristics that make them different from the other fuel cells such as fast operation, high efficiency, and no contamination. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Recently, several theoretical and empirical techniques have been analyzed for PEMFCs. 14,15 Due to the low level of PEMFC power, for achieving high power energy, they usually integrated parallel in a stack.…”

Effects of assembling method and force on the performance of proton‐exchange membrane fuel cells with metal foam flow field

“…So, a drastic increase in the application of PEMFC is observed in the past decade. However, most of the researchers focus on materials' characterization 2,14‐22 and the effects of operation parameters on cell performance 11,12,23‐28 . Components of a PEMFC include bipolar plates (BP), gas diffusion layers (GDL), microporous layers (MPL), catalyst layers (CL), and a proton‐exchange membrane.…”

Effect of different carbon supports for Ni particles for the HER in tetra‐alkylammonium‐sulfonic acid media

“…Noble metals like Ru, Ir, Rh, Pd, and particularly Pt are extremely effective in HER , because the reaction on these metals has high exchange current density (and consequently high catalytic activity) and an intermediate value of adsorption energy for hydrogen on its surface. However, the industrial use of noble metal cathodes is unrealistic due to high cost .…”