Directly deposited Nafion/TiO sub(2) composite membranes for high power medium temperature fuel cells

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 6; no. 29; pp. 24261 - 24266
• Main Authors: Wehkamp, Niklas, Breitwieser, Matthias, Buechler, Andreas, Klingele, Matthias, Zengerle, Roland, Thiele, Simon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.2016
• Subjects: Deposition; Dispersions; Electrodes; Maximum power density; Membranes; Nanoparticles; Production methods; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c5ra27462a

This work presents a simple production method for TiO sub(2) reinforced Nafion registered membranes which are stable up to a 120 degree C operation temperature. The novel TiO sub(2) reinforced membranes yield a maximum power density of 2.02 W cm super(-2) at 120 degree C; H sub(2)/O sub(2); 0.5/0.5 L min super(-1); 90% RH, 300/300 kPa sub(abs). This is 2.8 times higher than the highest power density for TiO sub(2) reinforced membranes so far published in literature. The described membranes even exceed the maximum power density of a commercial Nafion registered HP membrane in an identical measurement setup at 100 degree C and 120 degree C. Compared to the commercial Nafion registered HP membrane the maximum power density was increased by 27% and 9% at 100 degree C and 120 degree C, respectively. The membrane is manufactured by drop-casting a dispersion of Nafion registered and TiO sub(2) nanoparticles onto both the anode and cathode gas diffusion electrodes. Furthermore pure Nafion registered membranes manufactured by the same method had higher membrane resistances at temperatures >100 degree C than TiO sub(2)-reinforced Nafion registered membranes.