Department of Mechanical Engineering , Hanbat National University , Daejeon 34158 , Republic of Korea.
Center for Nanoparticle Research , Institute for Basic Science (IBS) , Seoul 08826 , Republic of Korea.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Sep 25;11(38):34805-34811. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b08075. Epub 2019 Sep 11.
The recent development of ultrathin anion exchange membranes and optimization of their operating conditions have significantly enhanced the performance of alkaline-membrane fuel cells (AMFCs); however, the effects of the membrane/electrode interface structure on the AMFC performance have not been seriously investigated thus far. Herein, we report on a high-performance AMFC system with a membrane/electrode interface of novel design. Commercially available membranes are modified in the form of well-aligned line arrays of both the anode and cathode sides by means of a solvent-assisted molding technique and sandwich-like assembly of the membrane and polydimethylsiloxane molds. Upon incorporating the patterned membranes into a single-cell system, we observe a significantly enhanced performance of up to ∼35% compared with that of the reference membrane. The enlarged interface area and reduced membrane thickness from the line-patterned membrane/electrode interface result in improved water management, reduced ohmic resistance, and effective utilization of the catalyst. We believe that our findings can significantly contribute further advancements in AMFCs.
近年来，超薄阴离子交换膜的发展及其操作条件的优化显著提高了碱性膜燃料电池（AMFC）的性能；然而，迄今为止，膜/电极界面结构对 AMFC 性能的影响尚未得到认真研究。在此，我们报告了一种具有新型设计的膜/电极界面的高性能 AMFC 系统。通过溶剂辅助成型技术和膜与聚二甲基硅氧烷模具的三明治式组装，对市售膜进行改性，在阳极和阴极两侧形成整齐排列的线阵列。将图案化膜纳入单电池系统后，与参考膜相比，我们观察到性能显著提高，高达约 35%。线图案化膜/电极界面的增大的界面面积和减小的膜厚度导致水管理得到改善、欧姆电阻降低以及催化剂的有效利用。我们相信，我们的发现可以为 AMFC 的进一步发展做出重大贡献。
