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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Deconvoluting charge-transfer, mass transfer, and ohmic resistances in phosphonic acid–sulfonic acid ionomer binders used in electrochemical hydrogen pumps

Ion-pair high-temperature polymer electrolyte membranes (HT-PEMs) paired with phosphonic acid ionomer electrode binders have substantially improved the performance of HT-PEM electrochemical hydrogen pumps (EHPs) and fuel cells. Here, blending poly(pentafluorstyrene-co-tetrafluorostyrene phosphonic acid) (PTFSPA) with Nafion™, and using this blend as an electrode binder, improved proton conductivity in the electrode layer resulting in a 2 W cm –2 peak power density of fuel cells at 240 °C (a HT-PEM fuel cell record). However, much is unknown about how phosphonic acid ionomers blended with perfluorosulfonic acid materials affect electrode kinetics and gas transport in porous electrodes. In this work, we studied the proton conductivity, electrode kinetics, and gas transport resistances of 3 types of phosphonic acid ionomers, poly(vinyl phosphonic acid), poly(vinyl benzyl phosphonic acid), and PTFSPA by themselves and when blended with Aquivion® (a perfluorosulfonic acid material).

08 HYDROGEN↗

Elucidating the Role of Ionomer in the Performance of Platinum Group Metal-free Catalyst Layer via in situ Electrochemical Diagnostics

The ionomer content in platinum group metal (PGM)-free polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) cathode catalyst layer (CCL) plays an important role in the electrode gas transport properties, proton conductivity, and hence, membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance. In this work, the ionomer content in the CCL is varied, influencing electrode microstructure by altering porosity, tortuosity, as well as ionomer distribution and coverage of the catalyst particles. A novel technique consisting of a H 2 pump, combined with a Pt black sensor layer, is used to measure the bulk mass transport resistance of a series of PGM-free CCL prepared with different ionomer contents. The values for bulk electrode mass transport resistance are contrasted with electrode proton transport resistance in the cathode catalyst layer, establishing a clearly defined trade-off between two key performance limiting phenomena and identifying a need for novel PGM-free electrode fabrication strategies.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Determining Proton Transport in Pseudo Catalyst Layers Using Hydrogen Pump DC and AC Techniques

Optimizing electrode morphology with a more uniform ionomer distribution is key to reducing ohmic losses and increasing electrocatalyst utilization in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Inherent ionomer conductivity, volume fraction and tortuosity determine effective ionic conductivity. We use hydrogen pump (HP) method to measure effective ionic conductivity of a pseudo catalyst layer (PCL) comprised of Vulcan XC-72 carbon black and 3M 825 EW ionomer with ionomer to carbon (I/C) ratios of 0.6, 1 and 1.4 and relative humidity (RH) range of 50 to 120%. These direct current (DC) experiments are then compared with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Both DC and EIS methods show good agreement, indicating that EIS can be used as an alternative to DC method in HP experiment. Ionic conductivity for PCL with I/C of 1 and 1.4 was found to be about one order of magnitude higher than I/C of 0.6 for most of the RH range. At 90% RH tortuosities for I/C = 1 and 1.4 were close to 1, whereas tortuosity for I/C = 0.6 was 3. With decrease in relative humidity tortuosities increased linearly and at 50% relative humidity a PCL with I/C = 0.6 had the highest tortuosity of 6.1.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗