Loading...
Electrospun Nafion®/Polyphenylsulfone Composite Membranes for Regenerative Hydrogen Bromine Fuel Cells
Park, Jun Woo Wycisk, Ryszard Pintauro, Peter N. Yarlagadda, Venkata Van Nguyen, Trung
Park, Jun Woo
Wycisk, Ryszard
Pintauro, Peter N.
Yarlagadda, Venkata
Van Nguyen, Trung
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
The regenerative H2/Br2-HBr fuel cell, utilizing an oxidant solution of Br2 in aqueous HBr, shows a number of benefits for grid-scale electricity storage. The membrane-electrode assembly, a key component of a fuel cell, contains a proton-conducting membrane, typically based on the perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer. Unfortunately, the high cost of PFSA membranes and their
relatively high bromine crossover are serious drawbacks. Nanofiber composite membranes can overcome these limitations. In this work, composite membranes were prepared from electrospun dual-fiber mats containing Nafion® PFSA ionomer for facile proton transport and an uncharged polymer, polyphenylsulfone (PPSU), for mechanical reinforcement, and swelling control. After
electrospinning, Nafion/PPSU mats were converted into composite membranes by softening the PPSU fibers, through exposure to chloroform vapor, thus filling the voids between ionomer nanofibers. It was demonstrated that the relative membrane selectivity, referenced to Nafion® 115, increased with increasing PPSU content, e.g., a selectivity of 11 at 25 vol% of Nafion fibers. H2-Br2 fuel cell power output with a 65 µm thick membrane containing 55 vol% Nafion fibers was somewhat better than that of a 150 µm Nafion® 115 reference, but its cost advantage due to a four-fold decrease in PFSA content and a lower bromine species crossover make it an attractive candidate for use in H2/Br2-HBr systems.
Description
Date
2016-02-29
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Proton conducting membrane, Electrospinning, Nafion, Polyphenylsulfone, Redox flow battery, Regenerative fuel cell, Hydrogen fuel cell, Bromine
Citation
Park, J., Wycisk, R., Pintauro, P., Yarlagadda, V., & Nguyen, T. V. (2016). Electrospun Nafion®/Polyphenylsulfone Composite Membranes for Regenerative Hydrogen Bromine Fuel Cells. Materials, 9(3), 143. doi:10.3390/ma9030143