Impacts of catalyst nanolayers on water permeation and swelling of polymer electrolyte membranes

Gaoqiang Yang; Shule Yu; Jingke Mo; Yifan Li; Zhenye Kang; Guido Bender; Bryan S. Pivovar; Johney B. Green; David A. Cullen; Feng Yuan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.227582

Impacts of catalyst nanolayers on water permeation and swelling of polymer electrolyte membranes

Gaoqiang Yang, Shule Yu, Jingke Mo, Yifan Li, Zhenye Kang, Guido Bender, Bryan S. Pivovar, Johney B. Green, David A. Cullen, Feng Yuan Zhang

Materials MicroAnalysis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte membranes with catalyst layers are the most crucial components of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cells and fuel cells. Their water permeation and swelling behavior significantly impact the proton transport and performance in energy conversion devices. In this study, water permeations and swelling properties of Nafion membranes with different platinum (Pt) nanolayers under different conditions are investigated. Visualization results demonstrate the entire swelling process of Pt-coated Nafion membranes and reveal water transport in Nafion membranes and breakage of the Pt nanolayer. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 17 nm Pt nanolayer coating reduces from 40 to less than 20 μmol min⁻¹ cm⁻² at 80 °C and 70 kPa differential pressure. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 36 nm Pt coating is slightly lower than one with a 17 nm Pt coating due to higher transport resistance through the thicker Pt nanolayer and smaller cracks on the Pt nanolayer. Nevertheless, the water permeation of Nafion membranes with Pt nanolayers is still in a good range for proton transport applications, demonstrating the feasibility of Pt or other metal coating on Nafion membranes as catalysts or substrates in PEM-based energy devices.

Original language	English
Article number	227582
Journal	Journal of Power Sources
Volume	448
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.227582
State	Published - Feb 1 2020

Funding

The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Fuel Cell Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0008426 , National Renewable Energy Laboratory under Award DE-AC36-08GO28308 , and National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DE-FE0011585 . A portion of the research was performed as part of a user project through Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility, and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Scott Retterer, Dr. Zili Wu, Dale Hensley, Dayrl Briggs, Alexander Terekhov, Douglas Warnberg, and Dr. Brian Canfield for their help.

Keywords

Platinum coating
Polymer electrolyte membrane
Swelling behavior
Water electrolyzer
Water permeation

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title = "Impacts of catalyst nanolayers on water permeation and swelling of polymer electrolyte membranes",

abstract = "Polymer electrolyte membranes with catalyst layers are the most crucial components of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cells and fuel cells. Their water permeation and swelling behavior significantly impact the proton transport and performance in energy conversion devices. In this study, water permeations and swelling properties of Nafion membranes with different platinum (Pt) nanolayers under different conditions are investigated. Visualization results demonstrate the entire swelling process of Pt-coated Nafion membranes and reveal water transport in Nafion membranes and breakage of the Pt nanolayer. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 17 nm Pt nanolayer coating reduces from 40 to less than 20 μmol min−1 cm−2 at 80 °C and 70 kPa differential pressure. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 36 nm Pt coating is slightly lower than one with a 17 nm Pt coating due to higher transport resistance through the thicker Pt nanolayer and smaller cracks on the Pt nanolayer. Nevertheless, the water permeation of Nafion membranes with Pt nanolayers is still in a good range for proton transport applications, demonstrating the feasibility of Pt or other metal coating on Nafion membranes as catalysts or substrates in PEM-based energy devices.",

keywords = "Platinum coating, Polymer electrolyte membrane, Swelling behavior, Water electrolyzer, Water permeation",

author = "Gaoqiang Yang and Shule Yu and Jingke Mo and Yifan Li and Zhenye Kang and Guido Bender and Pivovar, \{Bryan S.\} and Green, \{Johney B.\} and Cullen, \{David A.\} and Zhang, \{Feng Yuan\}",

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AU - Yang, Gaoqiang

AU - Yu, Shule

AU - Mo, Jingke

AU - Li, Yifan

AU - Kang, Zhenye

AU - Bender, Guido

AU - Pivovar, Bryan S.

AU - Green, Johney B.

AU - Cullen, David A.

AU - Zhang, Feng Yuan

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - Polymer electrolyte membranes with catalyst layers are the most crucial components of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cells and fuel cells. Their water permeation and swelling behavior significantly impact the proton transport and performance in energy conversion devices. In this study, water permeations and swelling properties of Nafion membranes with different platinum (Pt) nanolayers under different conditions are investigated. Visualization results demonstrate the entire swelling process of Pt-coated Nafion membranes and reveal water transport in Nafion membranes and breakage of the Pt nanolayer. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 17 nm Pt nanolayer coating reduces from 40 to less than 20 μmol min−1 cm−2 at 80 °C and 70 kPa differential pressure. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 36 nm Pt coating is slightly lower than one with a 17 nm Pt coating due to higher transport resistance through the thicker Pt nanolayer and smaller cracks on the Pt nanolayer. Nevertheless, the water permeation of Nafion membranes with Pt nanolayers is still in a good range for proton transport applications, demonstrating the feasibility of Pt or other metal coating on Nafion membranes as catalysts or substrates in PEM-based energy devices.

AB - Polymer electrolyte membranes with catalyst layers are the most crucial components of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cells and fuel cells. Their water permeation and swelling behavior significantly impact the proton transport and performance in energy conversion devices. In this study, water permeations and swelling properties of Nafion membranes with different platinum (Pt) nanolayers under different conditions are investigated. Visualization results demonstrate the entire swelling process of Pt-coated Nafion membranes and reveal water transport in Nafion membranes and breakage of the Pt nanolayer. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 17 nm Pt nanolayer coating reduces from 40 to less than 20 μmol min−1 cm−2 at 80 °C and 70 kPa differential pressure. The water permeation of Nafion membranes with a 36 nm Pt coating is slightly lower than one with a 17 nm Pt coating due to higher transport resistance through the thicker Pt nanolayer and smaller cracks on the Pt nanolayer. Nevertheless, the water permeation of Nafion membranes with Pt nanolayers is still in a good range for proton transport applications, demonstrating the feasibility of Pt or other metal coating on Nafion membranes as catalysts or substrates in PEM-based energy devices.

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Impacts of catalyst nanolayers on water permeation and swelling of polymer electrolyte membranes

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