INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
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2023
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IF 7.2
Guofu Ren,Zhiguo Qu,Xueliang Wang,Guobin Zhang,Yun Wang
To meet the demands for high power density, enhancing the water discharge capacity of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is imperative. The microporous layer (MPL), placed between a catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer, plays a crucial role in water management for PEMFCs. In this study, we fabricated electrospun MPLs of different pore sizes and characterized their morphology and pore structures . The mercury intrusion test showed that the mean pore sizes of electrospun MPLs are about 1.2–2.3 μm, much larger than commercial MPL's (about 70 nm). The electrospun MPLs were assembled in single PEMFCs to test their performance and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The results demonstrate that the electrospun MPLs with a pore size exceeding 1.9 μm significantly enhance water discharge and oxygen transport at the cathode relative humidity (RH) of 50 % and 100 %. Moreover, the EIS testing and fitting outcomes indicate that when the PEMFC performance is dominated by mass transport under high current density and 100 % cathode RH, the electrospun MPLs with a pore size exceeding 1.9 μm exhibit a better water discharge capacity and lower mass transport resistance.
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
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2026
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IF 8.3
Rui Zhang,Fan Gong,Wenyuan Chen,Shengyang Zheng,Shufeng Yang,Zhiqiang Xie,Zheng Chen,Gaoqiang Yang
The porous transport layer (PTL) is a crucial component in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE), facilitating the transport of liquid/gas two-phase fluid to the catalyst layer and the conduction of electrons to the bipolar plate. Currently, conventional PTL manufacturing processes suffer from the high cost of raw materials such as organic pore-formers and solvents, and usually generate environmentally harmful emissions and liquid waste. In this work, we explored the use of biomass pore-formers—potato starch, wheat starch, corn starch and rice starch—in the fabrication of PTLs. The research examined the impact of pore former type on the pore structure of the PTLs, revealing potato starch to be highly effective in controlling this structure. The pore structure can be further optimized by modifying the titanium (Ti) powder to potato starch ratio in the aqueous slurries. Additionally, the influence of various biomass pore-formers and their concentrations on the performance of PEMWEs was investigated. The PTLs produced with potato starch pore-formers exhibited 1.84 V at 2 A cm −2 and 120 mV decrease in cell voltage at a current density of 4 A cm −2 compared to commercial Ti PTLs, showcasing the potential of biomass pore formers for enhancing the efficiency of metal-based PTLs in PEMWEs and other energy conversion and storage systems.
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Advanced Science
·
2026
·
IF 14.1
Jinzhen Huang,Minhui Liang,Jingjing Lin,Zhihuan Pan,Jinwu Peng,Lei Wang
Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a promising binder for catalyst‐layer (CL) of high‐temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT‐PEMFCs), offering acid‐doped proton conductivity and better membrane compatibility than PTFE. However, commercial PBI binders suffer from chain aggregation and nonuniform distribution, which block Pt active sites and compromise fuel cell performance. Herein, we demonstrate a facile formic‐acid protonation strategy to regulate commercial OPBI binders without disrupting the polymer backbone. Protonation introduces positively charged benzimidazole sites, inducing interchain electrostatic repulsion that loosens chain packing, enlarges intermolecular spacing, and promotes uniform binder dispersion over catalyst surfaces. As a result, protonated OPBI exhibits a 382% increase in phosphoric acid uptake and a proton conductivity of 357 mS cm −1 . In CL, protonated OPBI reduces proton transport resistance by 63.7%, thereby promoting triple‐phase boundary formation, as evidenced by nearly doubled ECSA, while preserving reactant‐transport pathways. The resulting membrane electrode assembly delivers a peak power density of 912 mW cm −2 and a Pt‐mass‐specific peak power density of 5.2 W mg Pt −1 at an ultralow Pt loading of 0.075 mg cm −2 . This work highlights protonation‐induced chain‐packing regulation as an effective strategy for high‐performance PBI binders in HT‐PEMFCs. Commercial OPBI binders is regulated via a facile formic‐acid protonation strategy without disrupting the polymer backbone. Protonation introduces positively charged benzimidazole sites, inducing interchain electrostatic repulsion that loosens chain packing, enlarges intermolecular spacing, and promotes uniform binder dispersion over catalyst surfaces.
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高影响因子
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
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2025
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IF 9
Zhongming Xu,Nanjie Chen,Sheng Huang,Shuanjin Wang,Dongmei Han,Min Xiao,Yuezhong Meng
High temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) has become one of the most promising sustainable energy conversion technologies due to its cleanliness, high resistance to CO toxicity and simplified hydrothermal management. A major challenge is how to improve the acid retention in phosphoric acid (PA)-doped polymer electrolytes in HT-PEMFCs to obtain cells with extended durability. In this work, asymmetric PA-doped polybenzimidazole membranes (PA-APBI-ZrP(X)) with PA-doped poly [2,2‘-( p -oxydiphenyl)-5,5’-biphenylimidazole] (OPBI) membranes as the substrate and the OPBI/zirconium phosphate nanosheets composite coating layer (OPBI/ZrP(X)) on the cathode-contact side were prepared for the first time via hot pressure transfer method. The parallel distribution and high barrier property of the ZrP nanosheets constructed tortuous ion transport channels and mitigated the PA loss from membrane to the catalyst layer, which significantly improved the durability of HT-PEMFCs. The prepared PA-APBI-ZrP(20) membranes exhibited a low voltage decay rate in the 72 h accelerated stress test (AST), and the cell voltage achieved almost no decay (4.76 μV h −1 ) for 420 h at the operating current. The idea of cathode-side coating with a nanocomposite layer provides a feasible strategy to achieve the long-term operation of HT-PEMFCs.
研究领域:
材料科学
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能源技术
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ENERGY & FUELS
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2025
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IF 5.3
Chi Zhang,Linhao Fan,Daokuan Jiao,Jinding Li,Kui Jiao
The ionomer content significantly affects the microstructures and electrochemical performance of catalyst layers (CLs) in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). Here, this work explores the effects of ionomer content on CL structure, electrochemical performance, and durability. These findings demonstrate that the ionomer content optimization involves the trade-off between ohmic impedance and combined activation/mass transport impedances. Specifically, excess ionomers induce catalyst agglomeration and, thus, decrease the electrochemical reaction kinetics and effective electrochemical reaction area, thereby increasing the activation and mass transport impedances. However, fewer ionomers significantly lead to poor proton conduction and durability. To overcome these limitations, we propose a dual CL design featuring a gradient of ionomer content from the membrane side to the porous transport layer side. This gradient CL design achieves a superior performance of 1.81 V at 3.0 A cm–2 under an iridium loading of 1.0 mg cm–2, which exhibits a voltage reduction of 35 mV compared to the single-layer CL. Moreover, the gradient CL increases the voltammetric charge by over 10% compared to the single-layer CL. This advancement in electrochemical performance is accompanied by better CL durability.
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Journal of Energy Chemistry
·
2025
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IF 14.9
Xuyan Zhou,Zijie Yang,Yinnan Qian,Zhaoyan Luo,Lei Zhang,Qianling Zhang,Chuanxin He,Zhengtang Luo,Xiangzhong Ren
Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is widely recognized as a bottleneck of water electrolysis. To determine the underlying reaction mechanisms, particularly the relative contribution of the adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM) and lattice-oxygen participation mechanism (LOM), we conduct a comprehensive investigation combining Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and experimental validation. Our theoretical analysis of doped RuO 2 catalysts reveals that heteroatom doping (Ni, Cu, and Zn) induces significant local charge transfer, leading to the increased charge state of Ru and the downshifted d -band center. This, in turn, enables the mechanism switching from the conventional AEM to the more efficient LOM, and finally improves OER activity. We also establish a simple yet powerful descriptor, N e of Ru (representing charge density of Ru sites), which enables accurate prediction of both catalytic activity and stability. Guided by these theoretical predictions, we successfully synthesize a Ni-doped RuO 2 catalyst, which exhibits excellent OER activity and stability in acidic media, achieving an overpotential of just 156 mV and maintaining stability for 4000 h at 10 mA cm −2 , significantly surpassing the performance of the commercial RuO 2 . These findings not only provide fundamental insights into the mechanism-switching behavior in OER catalysis but also offer a practical strategy for designing high-performance, stable electrocatalysts for acidic water electrolysis.
研究领域:
电催化
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材料化学
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物理化学
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能源科学
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纳米材料
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电化学水裂解
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高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
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2025
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IF 8.2
Xiao-Hui Zhang,Wei-Kun Yao,Hai-Ting Zhao,Xin-Xin Zhuang,Yan-Qi Jin,Yan Ding,Meng-Jia Li,Zhi-You Zhou,Tao Wang,Shi-Gang Sun
Low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) reuqire highly pure hydrogen gas due to their extreme sensitivity to carbon monoxide (CO) contamination, which poses a challenge for using cost-effective reformed hydrogen sources. To address this issue, we have developed a surface modification strategy by applying a 0.5–0.91 nm amorphous carbon nitride layer onto PtRu/C substrates. The electrochemical measurements indicate that the modification selectively facilitates hydrogen gas transport to a surface while inhibiting carbon monoxide diffusion. The kinetic studies of CO adsorption reveal that the surface modification significantly reduces CO adsorption, effectively halving the rate compared to conventional catalysts. Additionally, rotating disk electrode experiments show that the catalyst modified with amorphous carbon nitride layer maintains stable operation for over 20 h with 1000 ppm of CO/H2. Furthermore, it supports stable discharge at 1 A cm–2 in PEMFCs with up to 10 ppm of CO, a concentration far exceeding the widely accepted standard of 0.2 ppm.
研究领域:
材料科学
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电化学工程
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Nature Communications
·
2025
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-11
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IF 15.7
Wang Dawei,Lin Fangxu,Luo Heng,Zhou Jinhui,Zhang Wenshu,Li Lu,Wei Yi,Zhang Qinghua,Gu Lin,Wang Yanfei,Luo Mingchuan,Lv Fan,Guo Shaojun
Using metal oxides to disperse iridium (Ir) in the anode layer proves effective for lowering Ir loading in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE). However, the reported low-Ir-based catalysts still suffer from unsatisfying electrolytic efficiency and durability under practical industrial working conditions, mainly due to insufficient catalytic activity and mass transport in the catalyst layer. Herein we report a class of porous heterogeneous nanosheet catalyst with abundant Ir-O-Mn bonds, achieving a notable mass activity of 4 A mg Ir −1 for oxygen evolution reaction at an overpotential of 300 mV, which is 150.6 times higher than that of commercial IrO 2 . Ir-O-Mn bonds are unraveled to serve as efficient charge-transfer channels between in-situ electrochemically-formed IrO x clusters and MnO x matrix, fostering the generation and stabilization of highly active Ir 3+ species. Notably, Ir/MnO x -based PEMWE demonstrates comparable performance under 10-fold lower Ir loading (0.2 mg Ir cm −2 ), taking a low cell voltage of 1.63 V to deliver 1 A cm −2 for over 300 h, which positions it among the elite of low Ir-based PEMWEs.
研究领域:
材料科学
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能源技术
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ADVANCES IN POLYMER TECHNOLOGY
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2020
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IF 1.539
Chao Meng,Sheng Huang,Dongmei Han,Shan Ren,Shuanjin Wang,Min Xiao
In the present work, a semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) high-temperature proton exchange membrane based on polyethyleneimine (PEI), epoxy resin (ER), and polybenzimidazole (PBI) was prepared and characterized, aiming at their future application in fuel cell devices. The physical properties of the semi-IPN membrane are characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and tensile strength test. The results indicate that the as-prepared PEI-ER/PBI semi-IPN membranes possess excellent thermal stability and mechanical strength. After phosphoric acid (PA) doping treatment, the semi-IPN membranes show high proton conductivities. PA doping level and volume swelling ratio as well as proton conductivities of the semi-IPN membranes are found to be positively related to the PEI content. High proton conductivities of are achieved at 160°C for these PA-doped PEI-ER/PBI series membranes. H2/O2 fuel cell assembled with PA-doped PEI-ER(1 : 2)/PBI membrane delivered a peak power density of 170 mW cm-2 at 160°C under anhydrous conditions.
研究领域:
材料科学
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电化学
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能源技术
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International Journal of Minerals Metallurgy and Materials
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2022
·Vol. 29
·期 5
·1090-1098
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IF 3.85
Liu Yue,Huang Shaobo,Peng Shanlong,Zhang Heng,Wang Lifan,Wang Xindong
Proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEM WE) is a particularly promising technology for renewable hydrogen production. However, the excessive passivation of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) will seriously affect the high surface-contact resistance and result in energy losses. Thus, a mechanism for improving the conductivity and interface stability of the GDL is an urgent issue. In this work, we have prepared a hydrophilic and corrosion resistant conductive composite protective coating. The polydopamine (PDA) film on the Ti surface, which was obtained via the solution oxidation method, ensured that neither micropores nor pinholes existed in the final hybrid coatings. In-situ reduced gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) improved the conductivity to achieve the desired interfacial contact resistance and further enhanced the corrosion resistance. The surface composition of the treated samples was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results indicated that the optimized reaction conditions included a pH value of 3 of HAuCl 4 solution with PDA deposition (48 h) on papers and revealed the lowest contact resistance (0.5 mΩ·cm 2 ) and corrosion resistance (0.001 μA·cm −2 ) in a 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 + 2 ppm F − solution (1.7 V vs. RHE) among all the modified specimens, where RHE represents reversible hydrogen electrode. These findings indicated that the Au—PDA coating is very appropriate for the modification of Ti GDLs in PEM WE systems.
研究领域:
材料科学
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能源技术
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Nature Communications
·
2023
·Vol. 14
·期 1
·1-14
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IF 16.6
Shi Zhaoping,Li Ji,Wang Yibo,Liu Shiwei,Zhu Jianbing,Yang Jiahao,Wang Xian,Ni Jing,Jiang Zheng,Zhang Lijuan,Wang Ying,Liu Changpeng,Xing Wei,Ge Junjie
The poor stability of Ru-based acidic oxygen evolution (OER) electrocatalysts has greatly hampered their application in polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers (PEMWEs). Traditional understanding of performance degradation centered on influence of bias fails in describing the stability trend, calling for deep dive into the essential origin of inactivation. Here we uncover the decisive role of reaction route (including catalytic mechanism and intermediates binding strength) on operational stability of Ru-based catalysts. Using MRuO x (M = Ce 4+ , Sn 4+ , Ru 4+ , Cr 4+ ) solid solution as structure model, we find the reaction route, thereby stability, can be customized by controlling the Ru charge. The screened SnRuO x thus exhibits orders of magnitude lifespan extension. A scalable PEMWE single cell using SnRuO x anode conveys an ever-smallest degradation rate of 53 μV h −1 during a 1300 h operation at 1 A cm −2 .
研究领域:
材料科学
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电化学
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Nanomaterials
·
2023
·Vol. 13
·期 14
·2055
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IF 5.3
Wenkai Li,Yixin Zhao,Xingchen Pan,Mingqi Liu,Shi Qiu,Zhiyong Xie
Composite bipolar plates (BPs) hinder their application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) because of their poor conductivity and mechanical properties. Nanofillers can effectively solve this problem but often have a limited effect due to their easy agglomeration. In this work, a continuous mesh carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) coating on the surface of graphite was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and carboxylation modification, and the composite BPs were prepared by molding using prepared reticulated carboxylated MWCNTs, expanded graphite, and resin. By optimizing the carboxylation treatment time and the content of the nano-filler, the composite BPs had the best performance at a 15 min carboxylation treatment time and 2.4% filler content. The planar conductivity reached up to 243.52 S/cm, while the flexural strength increased to 61.9 MPa. The thermal conductivity and hydrophobicity were improved compared with the conventional graphite/resin composite BPs, and good corrosion resistance has been demonstrated under the PEMFC operating environment. This work provides a novel nanofiller modification paradigm for PBs.Keywords:carbon nanotubes;carbon nanotube functionalization;graphite/resin composites;bipolar plate;chemical vapor deposition
研究领域:
材料科学
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化学工程
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高影响因子
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