Spray-painted graphene oxide membrane fuel cells

Bayer, T. and Selyanchyn, R. and Fujikawa, S. and Sasaki, K. and Lyth, S. M. (2017) Spray-painted graphene oxide membrane fuel cells. Journal of Membrane Science, 541. pp. 347-357. ISSN 0376-7388 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.07.012)

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Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) is potentially a useful electrolyte material for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells due to its high strength, excellent hydrogen gas barrier properties, hydrophilicity, and proton conducting acidic functional groups. Here, GO paper is prepared from aqueous dispersion by vacuum-filtration, and the hydrogen permeability (2 × 10−2 barrer) is measured to be 3 orders of magnitude lower than Nafion (30 barrer) at 30 °C. The in-plane and through-plane conductivities are measured to be 49.9 and 0.3 mS cm−1, respectively. This significant anisotropy is attributed to the lamellar structure of GO, and the physical anisotropy between the thickness and lateral size of the GO nanoplatelets. Interestingly, the in-plane conductivity of GO is comparable to the through-plane conductivity of Nafion. GO membrane fuel cells (GOMFCs) are fabricated. To compensate for the low in-plane conductivity of GO, whilst taking advantage of the excellent hydrogen gas barrier properties, extremely thin electrode-supported GOMFCs are prepared by spray painting GO directly onto the electrocatalyst layer. The effect of membrane thickness on cell performance is investigated. Decreasing membrane thickness by spray painting improves the power density from 3.7 mW cm−2 for a 50 μm-thick membrane-supported GOMFC, to 79 mW cm−2 for a 3 µm-thick, spray-painted membrane, electrode-supported GOMFC.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:85450
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 November 2017
    Published
    11 July 2017
    Published Online
    7 July 2017
    Accepted
    17 April 2017
    Submitted
    Notes:Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), sponsored by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan, the International Research Center for Hydrogen Energy at Kyushu University, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) through its “Center of Innovation Science and Technology based Radical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (COI Program)”, and the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) program from JST (Grant Number JPMJCR1442). Publisher Copyright: © 2017 T. Bayer, R. Selyanchyn, S. Fujikawa, K. Sasaki, S.M. Lyth, Spray-painted graphene oxide membrane fuel cells, Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 541, 2017, Pages 347-357, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.07.012
    Subjects:Science > Chemistry
    Department:Faculty of Engineering > Chemical and Process Engineering
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:11 May 2023 07:46
    Last modified:27 Apr 2024 00:35
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/85450
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