DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0810041106. Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells completely free from noble metal catalysts

Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells completely free from noble metal catalysts

10.1073/pnas.0810041106

Crossref journal-article

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (341)

Abstract

In recent decades, fuel cell technology has been undergoing revolutionary developments, with fundamental progress being the replacement of electrolyte solutions with polymer electrolytes, making the device more compact in size and higher in power density. Nowadays, acidic polymer electrolytes, typically Nafion, are widely used. Despite great success, fuel cells based on acidic polyelectrolyte still depend heavily on noble metal catalysts, predominantly platinum (Pt), thus increasing the cost and hampering the widespread application of fuel cells. Here, we report a type of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) employing a hydroxide ion-conductive polymer, quaternary ammonium polysulphone, as alkaline electrolyte and nonprecious metals, chromium-decorated nickel and silver, as the catalyst for the negative and positive electrodes, respectively. In addition to the development of a high-performance alkaline polymer electrolyte particularly suitable for fuel cells, key progress has been achieved in catalyst tailoring: The surface electronic structure of nickel has been tuned to suppress selectively the surface oxidative passivation with retained activity toward hydrogen oxidation. This report of a H 2 –O 2 PEFC completely free from noble metal catalysts in both the positive and negative electrodes represents an important advancement in the research and development of fuel cells.

Bibliography

Lu, S., Pan, J., Huang, A., Zhuang, L., & Lu, J. (2008). Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells completely free from noble metal catalysts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(52), 20611â20614.

Authors 5

Shanfu Lu (first)
Jing Pan (additional)
Aibin Huang (additional)
Lin Zhuang (additional)
Juntao Lu (additional)

References 29 Referenced 704

10.1126/science.1109157
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JR Varcoe, RCT Slade, ELH Yee, An alkaline polymer electrochemical interface: A breakthrough in application of alkaline anion-exchange membranes in fuel cells. Chem Commun 1428, 1429 (2006). / Chem Commun / An alkaline polymer electrochemical interface: A breakthrough in application of alkaline anion-exchange membranes in fuel cells by Varcoe JR (2006)
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Dates

Type	When
Created	16 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 15, 2008, 9:42 p.m.)
Deposited	3 years, 4 months ago (April 12, 2022, 5:57 p.m.)
Indexed	5 days, 7 hours ago (Aug. 23, 2025, 9:12 p.m.)
Issued	16 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 30, 2008)
Published	16 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 30, 2008)
Published Online	16 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 30, 2008)
Published Print	16 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 30, 2008)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Lu_2008, title={Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells completely free from noble metal catalysts}, volume={105}, ISSN={1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810041106}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.0810041106}, number={52}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Lu, Shanfu and Pan, Jing and Huang, Aibin and Zhuang, Lin and Lu, Juntao}, year={2008}, month=dec, pages={20611–20614} }

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