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Komma M, Freiberg ATS, Abbas D, Arslan F, Milosevic M, Cherevko S, Thiele S, Böhm T. Applicability of Single-Layer Graphene as a Hydrogen-Blocking Interlayer in Low-Temperature PEMFCs. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16. [PMID: 38676629 PMCID: PMC11082842 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c01254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024]
Abstract
Gas crossover is critical in proton exchange membrane (PEM)-based electrochemical systems. Recently, single-layer graphene (SLG) has gained great research interest due to its outstanding properties as a barrier layer for small molecules like hydrogen. However, the applicability of SLG as a gas-blocking interlayer in PEMs has yet to be fully understood. In this work, two different approaches for transferring SLG from a copper or a polymeric substrate onto PEMs are compared regarding their application in low-temperature PEM fuel cells. The SLG is sandwiched between two Nafion XL membranes to form a stable composite membrane. The successful transfer is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and in ex situ hydrogen permeation experiments in the dry state, where a reduction of 50% upon SLG incorporation is achieved. The SLG composite membranes are characterized by their performance and hydrogen-blocking ability in a fuel cell setup at typical operating conditions of 80 °C and with fully humidified gases. The performance of the fuel cell incorporating an SLG composite membrane is equal to that of the reference cell when avoiding the direct etching process from a copper substrate, as remnants from copper etching deteriorate the performance of the fuel cell. For both transfer processes, the hydrogen crossover reduction of SLG composite membranes is only 15-19% (1.5 barabs) in the operating fuel cell. Further, hydrogen pumping experiments suggest that the barrier function of SLG impairs the water transport through the membrane, which may affect water management in electrochemical applications. In summary, this work shows the successful transfer of SLG into a PEM and confirms the effective hydrogen-blocking capability of the SLG interlayer. However, the hydrogen-blocking ability is significantly reduced when running the cell at the typical humidified operating conditions of PEM fuel cells, which follows from a combination of reversible interlayer alteration upon humidification and irreversible defect formation upon PEM fuel cell operation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Komma
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Anna T. S. Freiberg
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Dunia Abbas
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Funda Arslan
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Maja Milosevic
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Serhiy Cherevko
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Simon Thiele
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Thomas Böhm
- Forschungszentrum
Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz Institute
Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (IEK-11), Cauerstr.1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
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Domhoff A, Martin TB, Silva MS, Saberi M, Creager S, Davis EM. Enhanced Proton Selectivity in Ionomer Nanocomposites Containing Hydrophobically Functionalized Silica Nanoparticles. Macromolecules 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Allison Domhoff
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
| | - Tyler B. Martin
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Mayura S. Silva
- Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
| | - Mansour Saberi
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
| | - Stephen Creager
- Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
| | - Eric M. Davis
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
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Kroschel M, Bonakdarpour A, Kwan JTH, Strasser P, Wilkinson DP. Analysis of oxygen evolving catalyst coated membranes with different current collectors using a new modified rotating disk electrode technique. Electrochim Acta 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2019.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Jayawickrama SM, Han Z, Kido S, Nakashima N, Fujigaya T. Enhanced platinum utilization efficiency of polymer-coated carbon black as an electrocatalyst in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Electrochim Acta 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2019.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Bukola S, Liang Y, Korzeniewski C, Harris J, Creager S. Selective Proton/Deuteron Transport through Nafion|Graphene|Nafion Sandwich Structures at High Current Density. J Am Chem Soc 2018; 140:1743-1752. [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b10853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Saheed Bukola
- Department
of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
| | - Ying Liang
- Department
of Chemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, United States
| | - Carol Korzeniewski
- Department
of Chemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, United States
| | - Joel Harris
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States
| | - Stephen Creager
- Department
of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States
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