Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: CS. M. Holmes, P. Balakrishnan, V. S. Kalangi, X. Zhang, M. Lozada-Hidalgo, P. M. Ajayan, R. R. Nair, Adv. Energy Mater. 2017, 7, 1601216 10.1002/aenm.201601216 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.201601216 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - 2D Crystals Significantly Enhance the Performance of a Working Fuel Cell
AU - Holmes, Stuart M.
AU - Balakrishnan, Prabhuraj
AU - Kalangi, Vasu S.
AU - Zhang, Xiang
AU - Lozada-Hidalgo, Marcelo
AU - Ajayan, Pulickel M.
AU - Nair, Rahul R.
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: CS. M. Holmes, P. Balakrishnan, V. S. Kalangi, X. Zhang, M. Lozada-Hidalgo, P. M. Ajayan, R. R. Nair, Adv. Energy Mater. 2017, 7, 1601216 10.1002/aenm.201601216 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.201601216 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2017/3/8
Y1 - 2017/3/8
N2 - 2D atomic crystals such as single layer graphene (SLG) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have been shown to be “unexpectedly permeable” to hydrogen ions under ambient conditions with the proton conductivity rising exponentially with temperature. Here, the first successful addition of SLG made by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is shown to an operational direct methanol fuel cell significantly enhancing the performance of the cell once the temperature is raised above 60 °C, the temperature at which the proton conductivity of SLG is higher than the Nafion membrane on which it is mounted. Above this temperature, the resistance to proton transport of the system is not affected by the graphene but the barrier properties of graphene inhibit methanol crossover. The performance of the fuel cell is shown to increase linearly with coverage of SLG above this temperature. Results show that the maximum power density is increased at 70 °C by 45% in comparison to the standard membrane electrode assembly without graphene. In addition, a membrane with CVD hBN shows enhanced performance across the entire temperature range due to better proton conductivity at lower temperatures.
AB - 2D atomic crystals such as single layer graphene (SLG) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have been shown to be “unexpectedly permeable” to hydrogen ions under ambient conditions with the proton conductivity rising exponentially with temperature. Here, the first successful addition of SLG made by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is shown to an operational direct methanol fuel cell significantly enhancing the performance of the cell once the temperature is raised above 60 °C, the temperature at which the proton conductivity of SLG is higher than the Nafion membrane on which it is mounted. Above this temperature, the resistance to proton transport of the system is not affected by the graphene but the barrier properties of graphene inhibit methanol crossover. The performance of the fuel cell is shown to increase linearly with coverage of SLG above this temperature. Results show that the maximum power density is increased at 70 °C by 45% in comparison to the standard membrane electrode assembly without graphene. In addition, a membrane with CVD hBN shows enhanced performance across the entire temperature range due to better proton conductivity at lower temperatures.
U2 - 10.1002/aenm.201601216
DO - 10.1002/aenm.201601216
M3 - Journal article
VL - 7
JO - Advanced Energy Materials
JF - Advanced Energy Materials
SN - 1614-6832
IS - 5
M1 - 1601216
ER -