Open AccessMembrane Electrode Assemblies Based on Hydrocarbon Electrolytes with Nitrile Groups for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Stefan Hürter,
Martin Müller,
Klaus Wippermann,
Michael D. Guiver,
L. Scoles,
Detlef Stolten
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
ecs transactions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1938-6737
pISSN - 1938-5862
DOI - 10.1149/05002.2139ecst
Subject(s) - nitrile , membrane , nafion , electrolyte , chemical engineering , methanol , methanol fuel , hydrocarbon , membrane electrode assembly , ether , permeation , anode , materials science , direct methanol fuel cell , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , chemistry , polymer chemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , electrochemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Sulfonated poly(aryl ether ether nitrile)s - sPAEEN are promising materials for reducing the methanol permeation from anode to cathode due to the strong polar interchain interactions caused by the nitrile functional groups. This feature allows the preparation of membranes with high proton conductivities and low crossover of methanol and water. Despite similar specific conductivities and lower thickness of the hydrocarbon membranes compared to Nafion 115, HC-MEAs prepared by a classic hot-pressing step show 40-70 % higher values for the cell resistances compared to Nafion 115 based MEAs. Therefore the MEA preparation procedure was changed to reduce losses due to poor lamination between the Nafion-based GDE and the hydrocarbon membrane. The impact of the type of sPAEEN membrane and the MEA preparation together with the cell performance data will be compared with state-of-the art Nafion-based cells and discussed in terms of consequences for the operating conditions for a DMFC system
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