Formation of Membrane Electrode Assembly for High Temperature Methanol Fuel Cells

Abstract:

In this work, a quaternized polysulfone/PTFE/H₃PO₄ composite membrane was prepared and used to a high temperature sustainable proton exchange membrane (HTPEM). This HTPEM was prepared based on a porous PTFE membrane, which can sustainable for 200 °C. Pt/C nano-suspension was prepared and deposited layer-by-layer on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) using electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) deposition technique for the formation of cathode and anode catalyst layers (CLs). The CLs presented well packed and porous features. This EHDA deposited cathode and anode CLs, GDL and HTPEM were assembled to a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and high temperature methanol fuel cell (HTMFC). The results showed that low concentration and high flow rate of methanol aqueous solution led to the loss of phosphoric acid on HTPEM, which resulted in the decline of the HTPEM. When the concentration and the flow rate of the methanol aqueous solution was increased and reduced, respectively, the cell can work properly at a temperature of 170 °C.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volumes 645-646)
• Pages: 1175-1180
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.645-646.1175
• Online since: May 2015
• Authors: Da Zhi Wang, Xiao Hu Zhu, Wen Zha, Tong Qun Ren*, Ming Qiang Li, Jun Sheng Liang, Chong Liu
• Keywords: Electrohydrodynamic Atomization (EHDA), High Temperature Methanol Fuel Cell (HTMFC), High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane (HTPEM), Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA)

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