Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells?
Numerous hydrocarbon (HC)-based ionomers have been investigated as fluorine-free alternatives to the well-established perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based ionomers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. While PFSA-based MEAs can be prepared by hot-pressing, this is generally not possible for...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | ECS Advances |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1149/2754-2734/adf34c |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849735046883180544 |
|---|---|
| author | Konstantin A. Weber Carla S. Harzer Elias Bindl Kilian Stengl Hubert A. Gasteiger |
| author_facet | Konstantin A. Weber Carla S. Harzer Elias Bindl Kilian Stengl Hubert A. Gasteiger |
| author_sort | Konstantin A. Weber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Numerous hydrocarbon (HC)-based ionomers have been investigated as fluorine-free alternatives to the well-established perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based ionomers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. While PFSA-based MEAs can be prepared by hot-pressing, this is generally not possible for HC-based MEAs, due to their different physico-chemical properties. However, in this work, we introduce a wet hot-pressing method that yields high-performance HC-based MEAs, demonstrated by a systematic comparison of various MEA configurations with electrodes and/or the membrane based on either PFSA or HC ionomers. These MEAs exhibit oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities that are essentially identical for cathodes prepared with either HC or PFSA ionomers, contrary to the frequently observed inferior ORR activity for the former, ascribed to catalyst poisoning. Furthermore, the differential-flow H _2 /air performance at 80 °C, 170 kPa _abs , and 2.5 A cm ^−2 of optimized all-HC-based MEAs coincides within ∼15 mV with that of all-PFSA-based MEAs, both at 70 and 90% relative humidity ( RH ). At these conditions, the current density of the all-HC-based MEAs at 0.6 V is ∼2.4 A cm ^−2 (90% RH ) and ∼2.1 A cm ^−2 (70% RH ), at anode/cathode loadings of ∼0.1/0.4 mg _Pt cm ^−2 . |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e379b8dfd49c4a9c909fddea467627f4 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2754-2734 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ECS Advances |
| spelling | doaj-art-e379b8dfd49c4a9c909fddea467627f42025-08-20T03:07:38ZengIOP PublishingECS Advances2754-27342025-01-014303450110.1149/2754-2734/adf34cEditors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells?Konstantin A. Weber0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1836-9191Carla S. Harzer1https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6486-5056Elias Bindl2Kilian Stengl3Hubert A. Gasteiger4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8199-8703Technical University of Munich , TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Munich, GermanyTechnical University of Munich , TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Munich, GermanyTechnical University of Munich , TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Munich, GermanyTechnical University of Munich , TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Munich, GermanyTechnical University of Munich , TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Munich, GermanyNumerous hydrocarbon (HC)-based ionomers have been investigated as fluorine-free alternatives to the well-established perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based ionomers for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. While PFSA-based MEAs can be prepared by hot-pressing, this is generally not possible for HC-based MEAs, due to their different physico-chemical properties. However, in this work, we introduce a wet hot-pressing method that yields high-performance HC-based MEAs, demonstrated by a systematic comparison of various MEA configurations with electrodes and/or the membrane based on either PFSA or HC ionomers. These MEAs exhibit oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities that are essentially identical for cathodes prepared with either HC or PFSA ionomers, contrary to the frequently observed inferior ORR activity for the former, ascribed to catalyst poisoning. Furthermore, the differential-flow H _2 /air performance at 80 °C, 170 kPa _abs , and 2.5 A cm ^−2 of optimized all-HC-based MEAs coincides within ∼15 mV with that of all-PFSA-based MEAs, both at 70 and 90% relative humidity ( RH ). At these conditions, the current density of the all-HC-based MEAs at 0.6 V is ∼2.4 A cm ^−2 (90% RH ) and ∼2.1 A cm ^−2 (70% RH ), at anode/cathode loadings of ∼0.1/0.4 mg _Pt cm ^−2 .https://doi.org/10.1149/2754-2734/adf34cfuel cellMEAionomerPEMhydrocarbonhot-pressing |
| spellingShingle | Konstantin A. Weber Carla S. Harzer Elias Bindl Kilian Stengl Hubert A. Gasteiger Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? ECS Advances fuel cell MEA ionomer PEM hydrocarbon hot-pressing |
| title | Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? |
| title_full | Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? |
| title_fullStr | Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? |
| title_short | Editors’ Choice—Can Hydrocarbon-Based MEAs Close the Performance Gap to State-of-the-Art Perfluorosulfonic Acid-Based MEAs for PEM Fuel Cells? |
| title_sort | editors choice can hydrocarbon based meas close the performance gap to state of the art perfluorosulfonic acid based meas for pem fuel cells |
| topic | fuel cell MEA ionomer PEM hydrocarbon hot-pressing |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1149/2754-2734/adf34c |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT konstantinaweber editorschoicecanhydrocarbonbasedmeasclosetheperformancegaptostateoftheartperfluorosulfonicacidbasedmeasforpemfuelcells AT carlasharzer editorschoicecanhydrocarbonbasedmeasclosetheperformancegaptostateoftheartperfluorosulfonicacidbasedmeasforpemfuelcells AT eliasbindl editorschoicecanhydrocarbonbasedmeasclosetheperformancegaptostateoftheartperfluorosulfonicacidbasedmeasforpemfuelcells AT kilianstengl editorschoicecanhydrocarbonbasedmeasclosetheperformancegaptostateoftheartperfluorosulfonicacidbasedmeasforpemfuelcells AT hubertagasteiger editorschoicecanhydrocarbonbasedmeasclosetheperformancegaptostateoftheartperfluorosulfonicacidbasedmeasforpemfuelcells |