Recent Advancements in Polysulfone Based Membranes for Fuel Cell (PEMFCs, DMFCs and AMFCs) Applications: A Critical Review

In recent years, ion electrolyte membranes (IEMs) preparation and properties have attracted fabulous attention in fuel cell usages owing to its high ionic conductivity and chemical resistance. Currently, perfluorinatedsulfonicacid (PFSA) membrane has been widely employed in the membrane industry in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs); however, NafionTM suffers reduced proton conductivity at a higher temperature, requiring noble metal catalyst (Pt, Ru, and Pt-Ru), and catalyst poisoning by CO. Non-fluorinated polymers are a promising substitute. Polysulfone (PSU) is an aromatic polymer with excellent characteristics that have attracted membrane scientists in recent years. The present review provides an up-to-date development of PSU based electrolyte membranes and its composites for PEMFCs, alkaline membrane fuel cells (AMFCs), and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) application. Various fillers encapsulated in the PEM/AEM moiety are appraised according to their preliminary characteristics and their plausible outcome on PEMFC/DMFC/AMFC. The key issues associated with enhancing the ionic conductivity and chemical stability have been elucidated as well. Furthermore, this review addresses the current tasks, and forthcoming directions are briefly summarized of PEM/AEMs for PEMFCs, DMFCs, AMFCs.

Modeling the Output Power of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Using SVR

The output power of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC) is one of the most important elements which limit the performance of DMFC. In order to enhance performance of DMFC, it is necessary to have model to modeling the output power of DMFC. In this paper, a novel model base on Support Vector Regression (SVR) to modeling the output power of DMFC base on output current (I) and operating temperature (T). The test result is shown that the generalization ability of SVR model is high accuracy. This investigation suggests that SVR is quite satisfied used to developing a DMFC model and can be used for controlling, optimal designing and feasibility study of the DMFC system.

Electrochemical and quantum chemical study of peculiarities of 2,5-di-Me-pyrazine-di-N-oxide oxidation in the presence of methanol at single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube paper electrodes

The use of methanol (MeOH) in direct methanol fuel cells explains the interest in the search for new electrode materials and catalysts that allow the oxidation of MeOH to be...

A Critical Assessment on Functional Attributes and Degradation Mechanism of Membrane Electrode Assembly Components in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are typically a subset of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) that possess benefits such as fuel flexibility, reduction in plant balance, and benign operation. Due to their benefits, DMFCs could play a substantial role in the future, specifically in replacing Li-ion batteries for portable and military applications. However, the critical concern with DMFCs is the degradation and inadequate reliability that affect the overall value chain and can potentially impede the commercialization of DMFCs. As a consequence, a reliability assessment can provide more insight into a DMFC component’s attributes. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is the integral component of the DMFC stack. A comprehensive understanding of its functional attributes and degradation mechanism plays a significant role in its commercialization. The methanol crossover through the membrane, carbon monoxide poisoning, high anode polarization by methanol oxidation, and operating parameters such as temperature, humidity, and others are significant contributions to MEA degradation. In addition, inadequate reliability of the MEA impacts the failure mechanism of DMFC, resulting in poor efficiency. Consequently, this paper provides a comprehensive assessment of several factors leading to the MEA degradation mechanism in order to develop a holistic understanding.