Beyond 1.0 W cm−2 Performance without Platinum: The Beginning of a New Era in Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Travis J. Omasta (1, 2) , Xiong Peng (1, 2) , Hamish R Miller (3) , Francesco Vizza (3) , Lianqin Wang (4) , John R. Varcoe (4) , Dario R Dekel (5) , William E. Mustain (1, 2)

1 University of South Carolina [Columbia]
2 UCONN - University of Connecticut
3 ICCOM - Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici
4 UNIS - University of Surrey
5 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology [Haifa]

This work reports a high power, stable, completely Pt-free anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) comprised of highly active catalysts-Pd-CeO 2 /C at the anode and PdCu/C alloy at the cathode for the hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions, respectively. The resulting AEMFC shows outstanding performance, reaching a peak power density of 1 W cm −2 , twice the value of the best performance for Pt-free cells reported in the literature to date. The AEMFC also shows a low voltage degradation rate when operated continuously for more than 100 h at a constant 0.5 A cm −2 , with a voltage degradation rate of only 2.5 mV h-1 , which is excellent when compared to nearly all of the AEMFCs reported in the literature to date. This combination of high performance and high stability in the absence of Pt-based catalysts represents a significant landmark in the progress of the AEMFC technology.

Domaines: Catalyse

Travis J. Omasta, Xiong Peng, Hamish R Miller, Francesco Vizza, Lianqin Wang, et al.. Beyond 1.0 W cm−2 Performance without Platinum: The Beginning of a New Era in Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2018, 15 (13), pp.J3039-J3044. ⟨10.1149/2.0071815jes⟩. ⟨hal-01896039⟩