Polymer and Composite Membranes for Proton-Conducting, High-Temperature Fuel Cells: A Critical Review

Abstract

Polymer fuel cells operating above 100 °C (High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells, HT-PEMFCs) have gained large interest for their application to automobiles. The HT-PEMFC devices are typically made of membranes with poly(benzimidazoles), although other polymers, such as sulphonated poly(ether ether ketones) and pyridine-based materials have been reported. In this critical review, we address the state-of-the-art of membrane fabrication and their properties. A large number of papers of uneven quality has appeared in the literature during the last few years, so this review is limited to works that are judged as significant. Emphasis is put on proton transport and the physico-chemical mechanisms of proton conductivity.

Proton Conductivity of Composite Polyelectrolyte Membranes with Metal‐Organic Frameworks for Fuel Cell Applications

“…For these reasons, sulfonated hydrocarbon PEMs have been recognized as promising electrolyte materials, especially for medium‐temperature and low‐temperature PEMFCs . However, in the past decade, a blossoming in the development of high‐temperature PEMFCs was noticed, as the benefits of operating at high temperatures include good CO tolerance, no need of water management, higher value of excess heat and use of easier cooling systems …”

Preparation and thermal treatment influence on Pt-decorated electrospun carbon nanofiber electrocatalysts

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Further development of polymer membrane FCs depends on nding new functional materials as they require a durability increase of the membraneelectrode assembly (MEA), containing essential parts such as electrodes and membranes. 1,6,7 Despite current PEM FC applications in micro-combined heat and power (mCHP) systems 8 and auxiliary power units 9 (APU), an increase of durability of the electrodes for PEM FC is an important challenge for further development of given area of hydrogen energy studies. [10][11][12][13][14] Most of commercial electrodes are based on carbon black which degrades under acidic fuel cell operation conditions, especially at high temperatures.…”

Impact of Thickness of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane and Gas Diffusion Layer on Temperature Distributions in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Operated at Temperature around 90 °C

“…Surface Temperature [39] The heats transferred in the model proposed are expressed as Eqs. (6)- (10): (10) where, H rib, c is the heat flux to cathode side under rib (W); K rib, c is the overall heat transfer coefficient for cathode side under rib (W•m -2 •K -1 ); A is the heat transfer area which is the active area of MEA, i.e., power generation area (= 0.0025 m 2 ); T react, rib is the reaction surface temperature under rib (K or °C); T surf, c is the separator's back surface temperature at cathode (K or °C); H chan, c is the heat flux to cathode side under channel (W); K chan, c is the overall heat transfer coefficient for cathode side under channel (W•m -2 •K -1 ); T react, chan is the reaction surface temperature under channel (K or °C); H rib, a is the heat flux to anode side under rib (W); K rib, a is the overall heat transfer coefficient for anode side under rib (W•m -2 •K -1 ); T surf, a is the separator's back temperature at anode (K or °C); H chan, a is the heat flux to anode side under channel (W); K chan, a is the overall heat transfer coefficient for anode side under channel (W•m -2 •K -1 ). K rib, c , K chan, c , K rib, a and K chan, a are defined as follows:…”

“…The characteristics of PEFC up to 200 °C were reported . However, most of them focused on development of new material [6,9,10,13,14,18,23,24,27], the power generation performance such as current density distribution, voltage change [5, 8, 12, 15-17, 21, 22, 25, 26], and durability [7,11]. A few researches reported the temperature distribution in the single cell of PEFC operated at high temperature [19,20,28].…”