Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (7): 1091-1097.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60050-4

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Effect of gas diffusion electrode parameters on anion exchange membrane fuel cell performance

Donglei Yanga,b, Hongmei Yua, Guangfu Lia, Wei Songa, Yanxi Liua, Zhigang Shaoa   

  1. a. Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2013-12-13 Revised:2014-01-23 Online:2014-06-28 Published:2014-06-28
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, 2011AA050705), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2012CB215500), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21176234 and 21203191).

Abstract:

Focused on the optimization of the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) in an alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AAEMFC), PTFE content and catalyst loading in the catalyst layer (CL) were found to have a substantial effect on the cell performance and electrochemical kinetics. The i-V curves, open circuit voltage, cell resistance, in-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and kinetics analysis have been used to evaluate the electrochemical properties of the fabricated GDEs. The results reveal that the optimum PTFE content in the CL of AAEMFC is 20%. Pt loading ranged from 0.2-1.0 mg/cm2 was also investigated as a vital parameter for three-phase boundary, CL conductivity and catalyst utilization. Ultimately, the highest peak power density of 213 mW/cm2 was achieved at 50℃ from the prepared GDE with Pt loading of 1.0 mg/cm2 on Pt/C and 20% PTFE in CL of AAEMFC. Considering the Pt-based catalyst effective utilization and cost, however, the platinum requirement can be diminished to close to 0.5 mg/cm2 in CLwithout significant performance loss.

Key words: Alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell, Gas diffusion electrode, PTFE content, Catalyst loading, Three phase boundary