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Silica-facilitated proton transfer for high-temperature proton-exchange membrane fuel cells

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Abstract

High-temperature proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) have shown a broad prospect of applications due to the enhanced reaction kinetics and simplified supporting system. However, the proton conductor, phosphoric acid, tends to poison the active sites of Pt, resulting in high Pt consumption. Herein, Pt nanoparticles anchored on SiO2-modified carbon nanotubes (CNT@SiO2-Pt) are prepared as high-performance cathode catalysts for HT-PEMFCs. The SiO2 in CNT@SiO2-Pt can induce the adsorption of phosphoric acid transferring from Pt active sites in the catalytic layer, avoiding the poisoning of the Pt, and the phosphate fixed by SiO2 provide a high-speed proton conduction highway for oxygen reduction reactions. Accordingly, The CNT@SiO2-Pt cathode achieve superior power density of 765 mW cm−2 (160 °C) and 1,061 mW cm−2 (220 °C) due to the rapid proton-coupled electron process and outstanding stability in HT-PEMFCs. This result provides a new road to resolve the phosphate poisoning for the commercialization of HT-PEMFCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFA0710000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21902047, 21825201, U19A2017), the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Hunan (2016TP1009 and 2020JJ5045) and Hunan Graduate Education Innovation Project and Professional Ability Improvement Project (CX20200445). Most of the computation was performed on supercomputers of the National Supercomputer Centre in Changsha.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the National Supercomputer Centers in Changsha, Advanced Catalytic Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Gen Huang, Yingying Li, Shiqian Du, Yujie Wu, Ru Chen, Li Tao & Shuangyin Wang

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Yi Cheng

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Energy Materials and Devices, School of Space and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Jin Zhang & Shanfu Lu

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  1. Gen Huang
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  2. Yingying Li
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  3. Shiqian Du
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  4. Yujie Wu
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  5. Ru Chen
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  6. Jin Zhang
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  7. Yi Cheng
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  8. Shanfu Lu
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  9. Li Tao
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  10. Shuangyin Wang
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Correspondence to Yi Cheng, Shanfu Lu, Li Tao or Shuangyin Wang.

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Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Huang, G., Li, Y., Du, S. et al. Silica-facilitated proton transfer for high-temperature proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Sci. China Chem. 64, 2203–2211 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-1142-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-1142-x

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