Direct glycerol fuel cell with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thin film separator

RENEWABLE ENERGY

卷:105

Article

Benipal, Neeva¹  Qi, Ji^1,3  Gentile, Jacob C.¹  Li, Wenzhen^1,2 

[1] Iowa State Univ, Biorenewables Res Lab, Dept Chem & Biol Engn, Ames, IA 50011 USA

[2] US DOE, Ames Lab, Ames, IA 50011 USA

[3] Dalian Univ Technol, Sch Chem Engn, Dalian 116023, Peoples R China

关键词: Direct glycerol fuel cell;    Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE);    Thin films;    Porous separator;    Anion exchange membrane;    Biomass renewables;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.renene.2016.12.028

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Anion-exchange membrane-based direct glycerol fuel cells (AEM-DGFCs) can yield high power density, however challenges exist in developing chemically stable AEM5. Here, we demonstrate a porous PTFE thin film, a well-known chemical, electro-chemical, and thermal robust material that can serve as a separator between anode and cathode, thus achieving high DGFC's performance. A simple aqueous phase reduction method was used to prepare carbon nanotube supported PdAg nanoparticles (PdAg/CNT) with an average particle size of 2.9 nm. A DGFC using a PTFE thin film without any further modification with PdAg/CNT anode catalyst exhibits a peak power density of 214.7 mW cm(-2) at 80 degrees C, about 22.6% lower than a DGFC using a state-of-the-art AEM. We report a 5.8% decrease and 11.1% decrease in cell voltage for a PTFE thin film and AEM; similarly, the cell voltage degradation rate decreases from 1.2 to 0.8 mV h(-1) for PTFE thin film, while for AEM, it decreases from 9.6 to 3.0 mV h(-1) over an 80 h durability test period. Transmission electron microscopy results indicate that the average particle size of PdAgICNT increases from 2.9 to 3.7 nm after 80 h discharge; this suggests that PdAg particle growth may be the main reason for the performance drop. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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