TY - JOUR
T1 - Composite polymer electrolyte membrane decorated with porous titanium oxide nanotubes for fuel cell operating under low relative humidity
AU - Shanmugam, Sangaraju
AU - Ketpang, Kriangsak
AU - Aziz, Md Abdul
AU - Oh, Kwangjin
AU - Lee, Kibong
AU - Son, Byungrak
AU - Chanunpanich, Noppavan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/7/10
Y1 - 2021/7/10
N2 - A block copolymer composite membrane of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone ketone) (SPESK) decorated with porous hygroscopic titanium oxide nanotubes (TNT) is designed and fabricated for low relative humidity (RH) operating polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The SPESK-TNT composite membrane in a PEFC operated at 100% RH, and 80 °C resulted in about 1.3 and 1.1-folds higher power density in comparison with the benchmark Nafion (NRE-212) and pristine SPESK membranes at 0.6 V. Further, operating under 30% RH and 80 °C, the SPESK-TNT composite membrane generates 3.8 and 2.8-folds improved power density in comparison with the pristine SPESK and commercial NRE-212 membranes, respectively, at 0.6 V. An outstanding improvement of PEFC performance using SPESK-TNT composite membrane also maintains relative to a SPESK-TiO2 nanoparticles composite membrane, operating under 100 and 30% RH. Moreover, the SPESK-TNT composite membrane shows a stable operating potential of more than 200 h at 30% RH and 80 °C, confirming the durable PEFC operation. The enhanced PEFC performance under dry conditions is mainly the result of improving water management by the TNT filler in the membrane and cathode catalyst utilization, yielding significantly suppressing both ohmic and mass transport overpotentials.
AB - A block copolymer composite membrane of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone ketone) (SPESK) decorated with porous hygroscopic titanium oxide nanotubes (TNT) is designed and fabricated for low relative humidity (RH) operating polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The SPESK-TNT composite membrane in a PEFC operated at 100% RH, and 80 °C resulted in about 1.3 and 1.1-folds higher power density in comparison with the benchmark Nafion (NRE-212) and pristine SPESK membranes at 0.6 V. Further, operating under 30% RH and 80 °C, the SPESK-TNT composite membrane generates 3.8 and 2.8-folds improved power density in comparison with the pristine SPESK and commercial NRE-212 membranes, respectively, at 0.6 V. An outstanding improvement of PEFC performance using SPESK-TNT composite membrane also maintains relative to a SPESK-TiO2 nanoparticles composite membrane, operating under 100 and 30% RH. Moreover, the SPESK-TNT composite membrane shows a stable operating potential of more than 200 h at 30% RH and 80 °C, confirming the durable PEFC operation. The enhanced PEFC performance under dry conditions is mainly the result of improving water management by the TNT filler in the membrane and cathode catalyst utilization, yielding significantly suppressing both ohmic and mass transport overpotentials.
KW - Composite membrane
KW - Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
KW - Fuel cells
KW - Poly(arylene ether sulfone ketone)
KW - Proton conductivity
KW - Titanium oxide nanotubes
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85104940049
U2 - 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.138407
DO - 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.138407
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104940049
SN - 0013-4686
VL - 384
JO - Electrochimica Acta
JF - Electrochimica Acta
M1 - 138407
ER -