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Ti4O7 supported IrOx for anode reversal tolerance in proton exchange membrane fuel cell

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Abstract

Fuel starvation can occur and cause damage to the cell when proton exchange membrane fuel cells operate under complex working conditions. In this case, carbon corrosion occurs. Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts can alleviate carbon corrosion by introducing water electrolysis at a lower potential at the anode in fuel shortage. The mixture of hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and unsupported OER catalyst not only reduces the electrolysis efficiency, but also influences the initial performance of the fuel cell. Herein, Ti4O7 supported IrOx is synthesized by utilizing the surfactant-assistant method and serves as reversal tolerant components in the anode. When the cell reverse time is less than 100 min, the cell voltage of the MEA added with IrOx/Ti4O7 has almost no attenuation. Besides, the MEA has a longer reversal time (530 min) than IrOx (75 min), showing an excellent reversal tolerance. The results of electron microscopy spectroscopy show that IrOx particles have a good dispersity on the surface of Ti4O7 and IrOx/Ti4O7 particles are uniformly dispersed on the anode catalytic layer. After the stability test, the Ti4O7 support has little decay, demonstrating a high electrochemical stability. IrOx/Ti4O7 with a high dispersity has a great potential to the application on the reversal tolerance anode of the fuel cell.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2019YFB1504502), and the Science and Technology Project of State Grid Corporation of China (SGLNDK00KJJS1900037).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fuel Cell System and Engineering Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Fuel Cells and Hybrid Power Sources, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Yonghuan Li, Wei Song, Guang Jiang, Yue Yang, Hongmei Yu & Zhigang Shao

  2. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Yonghuan Li, Guang Jiang & Yue Yang

  3. State Grid Liaoning Electric Power Research Institute, Shenyang, 110055, China

    Fangwei Duan & Yingxuan Yang

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  1. Yonghuan Li
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  2. Wei Song
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  3. Guang Jiang
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Correspondence to Wei Song or Zhigang Shao.

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Li, Y., Song, W., Jiang, G. et al. Ti4O7 supported IrOx for anode reversal tolerance in proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Front. Energy 16, 852–861 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0811-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-021-0811-7

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