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Ultrathin nanoporous metal electrodes facilitate high proton conduction for low-Pt PEMFCs

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Abstract

Design of catalyst layers (CLs) with high proton conductivity in membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) is an important issue for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Herein, an ultrathin catalyst layer was constructed based on Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt) with sub-Debye-length thickness for proton transfer. In the absence of ionomer incorporation in the CLs, these integrated carbon-free electrodes can deliver maximum mass-specific power density of 198.21 and 25.91 kW·gPt−1 when serving individually as the anode and cathode, at a Pt loading of 5.6 and 22.0 µg·cm−2, respectively, comparable to the best reported nano-catalysts for PEMFCs. In-depth quantitative experimental measurements and finite-element analyses indicate that improved proton conduction plays a critical role in activation, ohmic and mass transfer polarizations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52073214, 21603161, 51671145, 51761165012 and U1804255), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 51825102), and the Tianjin Municipal Major Project of New Materials (No. 16ZXCLGX00120).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Shuai Shi, Xianglong Wen, Qinqin Sang, Shuai Yin, Kaili Wang, Jian Zhang, Min Hu, Huiming Yin, Jia He & Yi Ding

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  1. Shuai Shi
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  2. Xianglong Wen
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  3. Qinqin Sang
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  6. Jian Zhang
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  7. Min Hu
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  8. Huiming Yin
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Correspondence to Jia He or Yi Ding.

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Shi, S., Wen, X., Sang, Q. et al. Ultrathin nanoporous metal electrodes facilitate high proton conduction for low-Pt PEMFCs. Nano Res. 14, 2681–2688 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3272-0

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