Abstract
Low chemical stability of membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) remains a major obstacle to commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). In this study, we doubly anchored cerium-ion in the catalyst layer by forming a complex with the 15-crown-5-ether and additionally grafting to the multiwall carbon nanotube (Ce/CRE-graft-CNT) as a long-lasting radical scavenger. To confirm the effect of Ce/CRE-graft-CNT on chemical durability, the binding energy between the cerium-ion and crown ether was identified with DFT calculations. The incorporation of Ce/CRE-graft-CNT into catalyst layer decreases decay rate of open circuit voltage (OCV) by 4 times from 2.13 to 0.56 mV h−1 for 210 h operation. The performance retention of the Ce/CRE-graft-CNT (70.8 %) at 0.6 V is also higher than that of the Ce/CRE-blend-CNT (44.8 %). The results indicate that the doubly anchored Ce/CRE-graft-CNT has a more retention capability as a radical scavenger. Therefore, a tightly bounded cerium-ion/crown ether complex with CNT can provide a strategy to improve the chemical durability of MEAs.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 167227 |
Journal | Journal of Alloys and Compounds |
Volume | 928 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 20 Dec 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 The Authors
Keywords
- Carbon nanotube
- Cerium ion
- Crown ether
- Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
- Radical scavenger