The Importance of Ion Selectivity of Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Membrane for the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Ma Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Degradation Mechanism ◽  
Ion Selectivity ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Trace Impurities ◽  
Operation Condition ◽  
Sulfonic Group

Nafion 212 membrane was subjected to swelling–dehydration (SD) cycles, as a relevant operation condition for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The major degradation mechanism due to the treatment was found to be sulfonic group contamination with trace ion, rather than formation of sulfonic anhydride, which is a well-known degradation mechanism for Nafion® membranes under hydrothermal (HT) aging condition. The consequences of the degradation include decreasing water content, thickness, and surface fluoride and increasing resistance, dry weight, and a changed surface morphology. Ion selectivity of the sulfonic group was studied toward different fuel cell relevant conditions. It turned out that the sulfonic groups have much higher selectivity toward cations rather than neighbor sulfonic groups. Trace impurities in the liquid methanol feed in DMFC may therefore represent an important contamination source.

Fuel Cells vs. Competing Technologies

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supramanian Srinivasan ◽  
Lakshmi Krishnan ◽  
Andrew B. Bocarsly ◽  
Kan-Lin Hsueh ◽  
Chiou-Chu Lai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Direct Methanol ◽  
Energy Conversion Systems ◽  
Competing Technologies

Investments of over $1 B have been made for Fuel Cell R&D over the past five decades, for space and terrestrial applications; the latter includes military, residential power and heating, transportation and remote and portable power. The types of fuel cells investigated for these applications are PEMFCs (proton exchange membrane fuel cells), AFCs (alkaline fuel cells), DMFCs (direct methanol fuel cells), PAFCs (phosphoric acid fuel cells), MCFCs (molten carbon fuel cells), SOFCs (solid oxide fuel cells). Cell structure, operating principles, and characteristics of each type of fuel cell is briefly compared. The performances of fuel cells vs. competing technologies are analyzed. The key issues are which of these energy conversion systems are technologically advanced and economically favorable and can meet the lifetime, reliability and safety requirements. This paper reviews fuel cells vs. competing technologies in each application category from a scientific and engineering point of view.

scholarly journals Heat and Mass Transfer and Two Phase Flow in Hydrogen Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Guo ◽  
Chong Fang Ma ◽  
Mao Hai Wang ◽  
Jian Yu ◽  
Xuan Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Direct Methanol ◽  
Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Exchange Membrane

Fuel cells are related to a number of scientific and engineering disciplines, which include electrochemistry, catalysis, membrane science and engineering, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics and so on. Several thermophysical phenomena such as heat transfer, multicomponent transport and two phase flow play significant roles in hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells based on solid polymer electrolyte membrane. Some coupled thermophysical issues are bottleneck in process of scale-up of direct methanol fuel cells and hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In present paper, experimental results of visualization of condensed water in fuel cell cathode microchannels are presented. The equivalent diameter of the rectangular channel is 0.8mm. Water droplets from the order of 0.08mm to 0.8mm were observed from several different locations in the channels. Several important problems, such as generation and change characteristics of water droplet and gas bubble, two phase flow under chemical reaction conditions, mass transfer enhancement of oxygen in the cathode porous media layer, heat transfer enhancement and high efficiency cooling system of proton exchange membrane fuel cells stack, etc., are discussed.

Advances in the Research and Development of Fuel Cells in China

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong-Fang Ma ◽  
Hang Guo ◽  
Fang Ye ◽  
Jian Yu
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Molten Carbonate ◽  
Direct Methanol ◽  
The Government

As a clean, high efficiency power generation technology, fuel cell is a promising choice of next generation power device. Widely application of fuel cells will make a contribution to save fuels and reduce atmospheric pollution. In recent years, fuel cells science, technology and engineering have attracted great interest in China. There are more and more Chinese scientists and engineers embark upon fuel cell projects. The government also encourages academic institutions and companies to enter into this area. Research and development of fuel cells are growing rapidly in China. There are many chances and challenges in fuel cells’ research and development. The state of the art of research and development of fuel cells in China was overviewed in this paper. The types of fuel cells addressed in this paper included alkaline fuel cells, phosphoric acid fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells.

scholarly journals Coating Process Parameters and Structural Properties of the Tubular Electrodes of Fuel Cells Based on a Self-Made Coating Device

Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
Hongjun Ni ◽  
Jiaqiao Zhang ◽  
Shuaishuai Lv ◽  
Xingxing Wang ◽  
Yi Pei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Process Parameters ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Direct Methanol Fuel Cells ◽  
Planetary Gear ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
The Self ◽  
Coating Process ◽  
Electrode Coating ◽  
Environment Temperature

The electrode is one of the most important components of tubular direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), and the coating process directly determines its performance. In the present research, a tubular electrode coating device was designed based on planetary gear structures, and the influence of the coating process parameters on the electrode structure’s performance was studied. The experimental results show that: the coating layer on the electrode surface prepared by the self-made device is uniform and dense, and the coating surface quality is better than a manual coating. The best coating environment temperature is 30–40 °C, and the coating spindle speed is 6.67 r/min. Under the condition in which Nafion 117 is used as the proton exchange membrane, the fuel cell is placed in 1 mol/L H2SO4 + 0.5 mol/L CH3OH electrolyte, and high-purity oxygen is fed at a rate of 100 mL/min, the power density of the electrode coated by the self-made device can reach 20.50 mW/cm2, which is about 2.4 times that of the electrode coated manually.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document