Challenges and opportunities for characterisation of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: a review
High-temperature (120-200 °C) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) are promising energy conversion devices that offer multiple advantages over the established low-temperature (LT) PEMFC technology, namely: faster reaction kinetics, improved impurity tolerance, simpler water and therma...
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| Published in | Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 12; no. 14; pp. 814 - 864 |
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| Main Authors | , , , , , |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Cambridge
Royal Society of Chemistry
02.04.2024
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | High-temperature (120-200 °C) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) are promising energy conversion devices that offer multiple advantages over the established low-temperature (LT) PEMFC technology, namely: faster reaction kinetics, improved impurity tolerance, simpler water and thermal management, and increased potential to utilise waste heat. Whilst HT- and LT-PEMFCs share several components, important differences in the membrane materials, transport mechanisms and operating conditions provide new challenges and considerations for characterisation. This review focuses on phosphoric acid-doped HT-PEMFCs and provides a detailed discussion of the similarities and differences compared to LT-PEMFCs, as well as state-of-the-art performance and materials. Commonly used characterisation techniques including electrochemical, imaging, and spectroscopic methods are reviewed with a focus on use in HT-PEMFCs, how experimentation or analyses differ from LT-PEMFCs, and new opportunities for research using these techniques. Particular consideration is given to the presence of phosphoric acid and the absence of liquid water. The importance of accelerated stress tests for effective characterisation and durability estimation for HT-PEMFCs is discussed, and existing protocols are comprehensively reviewed focusing on acid loss, catalyst layer degradation, and start-up/shutdown cycling. The lack of standardisation of these testing protocols in HT-PEMFC research is highlighted as is the need to develop such standards.
High-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells require advancements to capitalise on their advantages over conventional PEMFCs, the critical roles and opportunities for characterisation and durability testing are discussed in this review. |
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| Bibliography: | Dan Brett specialises in electrochemical power systems. He holds the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Metrology for Electrochemical Propulsion and is the Director of the UCL Advanced Propulsion Lab. He has co-founded companies including Bramble Energy, Oort Energy, Sention, Element 30, Gaussian and Prosemino. He has been recognised through awards including the De Nora Prize for Applied Electrochemistry (ISE), Baker Medal (ICE) and the Princess Royal Silver Medal (RAEng). He is listed in the Stanford top 2% of scientists in the world and in 2023 the Royal Academy of Engineering and TFL recognised him as an 'Engineering Icon'. Dr. Richard Stocker is a Principle Engineer at HORIBA Instruments Inc. In his 10 years at HORIBA he has focused on Li-ion battery pack projects, including BMS development, cell characterization testing, and simulation modelling. Graduating from the University of Nottingham with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering (2013), they furthered their specialization with a PhD from Coventry University (2020), investigating Li-ion battery cell ageing and developing algorithms to decode ageing mechanisms from electrical cycling data. He has investigated the use of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Distribution of Relaxation Times (DRT) as applied to batteries and fuel cells. Adam Zucconi is a research scientist at HORIBA, and part-time PhD researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL. His main research focuses on operando in situ Theo A. M. Suter is a postdoctoral researcher in the electrochemical innovation laboratory at UCL focusing on fuel cell fabrication, testing, and characterization. He completed his PhD in nanomaterial chemistry at UCL in 2018 and now specializes in nanoengineering of the fuel cell catalyst layer, particularly via Dr Hack is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK. She completed her PhD at University College London in 2021 working on fuel cell characterisation. After undertaking an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship studying zinc-air batteries, followed by a Project Lead role on the Faraday Institution's LiSTAR project, Jennifer joined the University of Sheffield in 2023. Her research focuses on the study of morphology evolution in electrochemical devices, in particular electrolysers and fuel cells, using the use of nanomaterials and heterogeneous catalyst layer fabrication. His interests focus on how the fuel cell catalyst layer morphology and microstructure impacts the performance of fuel cells, and how different fabrication techniques can be used as a tool to improve device durability. Alex Rettie is an Associate Professor in Electrochemical Conversion and Storage in the Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL (UK). His interests are in the experimental discovery and characterisation of electrochemical energy materials and their incorporation into devices, with a focus on electronic and ionic charge transport. He leads a national hydrogen network based at UCL and is the UK's alternate delegate to the IEA's technology collaboration programme on hydrogen. and operando X-ray and neutron CT. and characterisation of fuel cells and electrolysers, principally low- and high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane technologies. He has particular interest in electrochemical and exhaust liquid and gas characterisation. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 |
| ISSN: | 2050-7488 2050-7496 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/d3ta06895a |