Edited by Bradley Ladewig, San Ping Jiang,
and Yushan Yan
Materials for
Low-Temperature
Fuel Cells
Series Editor:
G.Q.╃Max Lu
Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development
Edited by
Bradley Ladewig
San P. Jiang
Yushan Yan
Materials for LowTemperature Fuel Cells
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Edited by Bradley Ladewig, San P. Jiang,
and Yushan Yan
Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells
Editors
Dr. Bradley Ladewig
Monash University
Department of Chemical Engin.
Building 36, Clayton Campus
Victoria 3800
Australia
Prof. San P. Jiang
Curtin University
Department of Chemical Engineering &
Fuels and Energy Technology Institute
1, Turner Avenue
6845 Perth, WA
Australia
Prof. Yushan Yan
University of Delaware
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering
150 Academy Street
DE 19716
United States
Series Editor
G. Q. Max Lu
Univ. of Queensland
ARC Centre Funct.Nanomat.
AIBN Bldg. Level 5 West
4072 Brisbane Queensland
Australia
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Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33042-3
ePDF ISBN: 978-3-527-64432-2
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Cover Design Formgeber, Mannheim, Germany
Typesetting Thomson Digital, Noida, India
Printing and Binding Markono Print Media Pte Ltd,
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Printed on acid-free paper
V
Editorial Board
Members of the Advisory Board of the “Materials for Sustainable Energy and
Development” Series
Professor Huiming Cheng
Professor Calum Drummond
Professor Morinobu Endo
Professor Michael Grätzel
Professor Kevin Kendall
Professor Katsumi Kaneko
Professor Can Li
Professor Arthur Nozik
Professor Detlev Stöver
Professor Ferdi Schüth
Professor Ralph Yang
VII
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface XIII
About the Series Editor XV
About the Volume Editors XVII
List of Contributors XIX
1
Key Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells: An Introduction
Bradley P. Ladewig, Benjamin M. Asquith, and Jochen Meier-Haack
Reference 2
3
2
Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Rhodri Jervis and Daniel J.L. Brett
2.1
2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2.2.3
2.2.4
2.3
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3
2.3.4
2.3.4.1
2.3.4.2
2.3.4.3
2.4
Fuel Cells 3
PEM Fuel Cell Principles 4
Equilibrium Kinetics 4
Butler–Volmer Kinetics 7
Exchange Current Density 8
The Fuel Cell Polarization Curve 10
Alkaline Fuel Cells 11
The ORR Mechanism 12
The HOR in Alkaline 13
The Aqueous Electrolyte AFC 15
The AAEM Fuel Cell 16
AAEM Principles 16
Alkaline Membranes 17
AAEM Fuel Cell Examples 19
Summary 25
References 26
3
Catalyst Support Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane
Fuel Cells 33
Xin Wang and Shuangyin Wang
3.1
3.2
Introduction 33
Current Status of Support Materials and Role of
Carbon as Support in Fuel Cells 34
1
VIII
Contents
3.3
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.3.3
3.3.4
3.3.5
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
Novel Carbon Materials as Electrocatalyst Support for Fuel Cells 35
Mesoporous Carbon as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 35
Graphite Nanofibers as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 39
Carbon Nanotubes as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 42
Graphene as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 49
Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Materials 52
Conductive Metal Oxide as Support Materials 54
Metal Carbides and Metal Nitrides as Catalyst Supports 56
Conducting Polymer as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 57
Conducting Polymer-Grafted Carbon Materials 58
3M Nanostructured Thin Film as Support Materials for Fuel Cells 59
Summary and Outlook 60
References 61
4
Anode Catalysts for Low-Temperature Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells
Wenzhen Li
69
Introduction 69
Anode Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells: Improved Performance
of Binary and Ternary Catalysts 71
4.2.1
Principles of Direct Methanol Fuel Cells 71
4.2.2
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysts for Methanol Electrooxidation 71
4.3
Anode Catalysts for Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells: Break C-C Bond to
Achieve Complete 12-Electron-Transfer Oxidation 73
4.3.1
Principles of PEM-Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells 74
4.3.2
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysts for Ethanol Electrooxidation 74
4.3.3
Anion Exchange Membrane-Based Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells (AEMDEFCs) 77
4.3.4
Anode Catalysts for AEM-DEFCs 78
4.4
Anode Catalysts for Direct Polyol Fuel Cells (Ethylene Glycol, Glycerol):
Cogenerate Electricity and Valuable Chemicals Based on Anion
Exchange Membrane Platform 79
4.4.1
Overview of Electrooxidation of Polyols 79
4.4.2
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysts for Ethylene Glycol
Electrooxidation 81
4.4.3
Reaction Mechanisms and Catalysts for Glycerol Electrooxidation 82
4.5
Synthetic Methods of Metal Electrocatalysts 84
4.5.1
Impregnation Method 86
4.5.2
Colloidal Method 87
4.5.2.1 Polyol Method 87
4.5.2.2 Organic-Phase Method 89
4.5.3
Microemulsion Method 90
4.5.4
Other Methods 90
4.6
Carbon Nanomaterials as Anode Catalyst Support 91
4.6.1
Carbon Nanotubes 91
4.6.2
Carbon Nanofibers 94
4.1
4.2