Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells -  - E-Book

Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells E-Book

0,0
129,99 €

oder
-100%
Sammeln Sie Punkte in unserem Gutscheinprogramm und kaufen Sie E-Books und Hörbücher mit bis zu 100% Rabatt.
Mehr erfahren.
Beschreibung

There are a large number of books available on fuel cells; however, the majority are on specific types of fuel cells such as solid oxide fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, or on specific technical aspects of fuel cells, e.g., the system or stack engineering. Thus, there is a need for a book focused on materials requirements in fuel cells. Key Materials in Low-Temperature Fuel Cells is a concise source of the most important and key materials and catalysts in low-temperature fuel cells. A related book will cover key materials in high-temperature fuel cells. The two books form part of the "Materials for Sustainable Energy & Development" series.
Key Materials in Low-Temperature Fuel Cells brings together world leaders and experts in this field and provides a lucid description of the materials assessment of fuel cell technologies. With an emphasis on the technical development and applications of key materials in low-temperature fuel cells, this text covers fundamental principles, advancement, challenges, and important current research themes. Topics covered include: proton exchange membrane fuel cells, direct methanol and ethanol fuel cells, microfluidic fuel cells, biofuel cells, alkaline membrane fuel cells, functionalized carbon nanotubes as catalyst supports, nanostructured Pt catalysts, non-PGM catalysts, membranes, and materials modeling.
This book is an essential reference source for researchers, engineers and technicians in academia, research institutes and industry working in the fields of fuel cells, energy materials, electrochemistry and materials science and engineering.

Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:

Android
iOS
von Legimi
zertifizierten E-Readern

Seitenzahl: 497

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Bewertungen
0,0
0
0
0
0
0
Mehr Informationen
Mehr Informationen
Legimi prüft nicht, ob Rezensionen von Nutzern stammen, die den betreffenden Titel tatsächlich gekauft oder gelesen/gehört haben. Wir entfernen aber gefälschte Rezensionen.



CONTENTS

Cover

Related Titles

Title Page

Copyright

Editorial Board

Series Editor's Preface

About the Series Editor

About the Volume Editors

List of Contributors

Chapter 1: Key Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells: An Introduction

Reference

Chapter 2: Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

2.1 Fuel Cells

2.2 PEM Fuel Cell Principles

2.3 Alkaline Fuel Cells

2.4 Summary

References

Chapter 3: Catalyst Support Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Current Status of Support Materials and Role of Carbon as Support in Fuel Cells

3.3 Novel Carbon Materials as Electrocatalyst Support for Fuel Cells

3.4 Conductive Metal Oxide as Support Materials

3.5 Metal Carbides and Metal Nitrides as Catalyst Supports

3.6 Conducting Polymer as Support Materials for Fuel Cells

3.7 Conducting Polymer-Grafted Carbon Materials

3.8 3M Nanostructured Thin Film as Support Materials for Fuel Cells

3.9 Summary and Outlook

References

Chapter 4: Anode Catalysts for Low-Temperature Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Anode Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells: Improved Performance of Binary and Ternary Catalysts

4.3 Anode Catalysts for Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells: Break C–C Bond to Achieve Complete 12-Electron-Transfer Oxidation

4.4 Anode Catalysts for Direct Polyol Fuel Cells (Ethylene Glycol, Glycerol): Cogenerate Electricity and Valuable Chemicals Based on Anion Exchange Membrane Platform

4.5 Synthetic Methods of Metal Electrocatalysts

4.6 Carbon Nanomaterials as Anode Catalyst Support

4.7 Future Challenges and Opportunities

Acknowledgments

References

Chapter 5: Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Basic Principles of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Operation

5.3 Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

5.4 Membrane Properties Summary

5.5 Conclusions

References

Chapter 6: Hydroxide Exchange Membranes and Ionomers

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Requirements

6.3 Fabrications and Categories

6.4 Structure and Properties of Cationic Functional Group

6.5 Structure and Properties of Polymer Main Chain

6.6 Structure and Properties of Chemical Cross-Linking

6.7 Prospective

References

Chapter 7: Materials for Microbial Fuel Cells

7.1 Introduction

7.2 MFC Configuration

7.3 Anode Materials

7.4 Cathode

7.5 Separators

7.6 Outlook

References

Chapter 8: Bioelectrochemical Systems

8.1 Bioelectrochemical Systems and Bioelectrocatalysis

8.2 On the Nature of Microbial Bioelectrocatalysis

8.3 Microbial Electron Transfer Mechanisms

8.4 From Physiology to Technology: Microbial Bioelectrochemical Systems

8.5 Application Potential of BES Technology

8.6 Characterization of BESs and Microbial Bioelectrocatalysts

8.7 Conclusions

Acknowledgments

References

Chapter 9: Materials for Microfluidic Fuel Cells

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Fundamentals

9.3 Membraneless LFFC Designs and the Materials in Use

9.4 Fuel, Oxidant, and Electrolytes

9.5 Conclusions

References

Chapter 10: Progress in Electrocatalysts for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Developing an Effective Method to Prepare Electrocatalysts

10.3 Electrocatalysts for ORR

10.4 Electrocatalysts for MOR

10.5 Electrocatalysts for Ethanol Electrooxidation

10.6 Conclusions

References

Index

EULA

List of Tables

Table 4.1

Table 5.1

Table 6.1

Table 6.2

Table 6.3

Table 6.4

Table 8.1

Table 8.2

Table 9.1

Table 9.2

Table 9.3

Table 10.1

Table 10.2

Table 10.3

Table 10.4

List of Illustrations

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Figure 2.5

Figure 2.6

Figure 2.7

Figure 2.8

Figure 2.9

Figure 2.10

Figure 2.11

Figure 2.12

Figure 2.13

Figure 2.14

Figure 2.15

Figure 2.16

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4

Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6

Figure 3.7

Figure 3.8

Figure 3.9

Figure 3.10

Figure 3.11

Figure 3.12

Figure 3.13

Figure 3.14

Figure 3.15

Figure 3.16

Figure 3.17

Figure 3.18

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4

Figure 4.5

Figure 4.6

Figure 4.7

Figure 4.8

Figure 4.9

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2

Figure 5.3

Figure 5.4

Figure 5.5

Figure 5.6

Figure 5.7

Figure 5.8

Figure 5.9

Figure 7.1

Figure 8.1

Figure 8.2

Figure 8.3

Figure 8.4

Figure 8.5

Figure 8.6

Figure 8.7

Figure 9.1

Figure 9.2

Figure 9.3

Figure 9.4

Figure 9.5

Figure 10.1

Figure 10.2

Figure 10.3

Figure 10.4

Figure 10.5

Figure 10.6

Figure 10.7

Figure 10.8

Figure 10.9

Figure 10.10

Figure 10.11

Figure 10.12

Figure 10.13

Figure 10.14

Figure 10.15

Figure 10.16

Figure 10.17

Figure 10.18

Figure 10.19

Figure 10.20

Figure 10.21

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Pages

ii

iii

iv

v

xiii

xiv

xv

xvi

xvii

xviii

xix

xx

xxi

xxii

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

Related Titles

Fricke, J., Borst, W.L.

Essentials of Energy Technology

Sources, Transport, Storage, Conservation

2013

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33416-2; also available in digital formats

Jiang, S. P. / Yan, Y. (eds.)

Materials for High-Temperature Fuel Cells

Series: Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development Series editor: Lu, G. Q. M. (ed.)

2013

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33041-6; also available in digital formats

García-Martínez, J. (ed.)

Nanotechnology for the Energy Challenge

Second Edition

2013

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33380-6; also available in digital formats

Stolten, D., Scherer, V. (eds.)

Transition to Renewable Energy Systems

2013

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33239-7; also available in digital formats

Stolten, D. / Emonts, B. (eds.)

Fuel Cell Science and Engineering

Materials, Processes, Systems and Technology

2012

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33012-6; also available in digital formats

Stolten, D. (ed.)

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

Fundamentals, Technologies and Applications

2010

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-32711-9

Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells

Edited by Bradley Ladewig, San P. Jiang, and Yushan Yan

All books published by Wiley-VCH are carefully produced. Nevertheless, authors, editors, and publisher do not warrant the information contained in these books, including this book, to be free of errors. Readers are advised to keep in mind that statements, data, illustrations, procedural details or other items may inadvertently be inaccurate.

Library of Congress Card No.: applied for

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Boschstr. 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany

All rights reserved (including those of translation into other languages). No part of this book may be reproduced in any form – by photoprinting, microfilm, or any other means – nor transmitted or translated into a machine language without written permission from the publishers. Registered names, trademarks, etc. used in this book, even when not specifically marked as such, are not to be considered unprotected by law.

Print ISBN: 978-3-527-33042-3

ePDF ISBN: 978-3-527-64432-2

ePub ISBN: 978-3-527-64431-5

Mobi ISBN: 978-3-527-64433-9

oBook ISBN: 978-3-527-64430-8

Editorial Board

Members of the Advisory Board of the “Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development” Series

Professor Huiming Cheng

Professor Calum Drummond

Professor Morinobu Endo

Professor Michael Grätzel

Professor Kevin Kendall

Professor Katsumi Kaneko

Professor Can Li

Professor Arthur Nozik

Professor Detlev Stöver

Professor Ferdi Schüth

Professor Ralph Yang

Series Editor's Preface

The Wiley Series on New Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development

Sustainable energy and development is attracting increasing attention from the scientific research communities and industries alike, with an international race to develop technologies for clean fossil energy, hydrogen and renewable energy as well as water reuse and recycling. According to the REN21 (Renewables Global Status Report 2012 p. 17) total investment in renewable energy reached $257 billion in 2011, up from $211 billion in 2010. The top countries for investment in 2011 were China, Germany, the United States, Italy, and Brazil. In addressing the challenging issues of energy security, oil price rise, and climate change, innovative materials are essential enablers.

In this context, there is a need for an authoritative source of information, presented in a systematic manner, on the latest scientific breakthroughs and knowledge advancement in materials science and engineering as they pertain to energy and the environment. The aim of the Wiley Series on New Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development is to serve the community in this respect. This has been an ambitious publication project on materials science for energy applications. Each volume of the series will include high-quality contributions from top international researchers, and is expected to become the standard reference for many years to come.

This book series covers advances in materials science and innovation for renewable energy, clean use of fossil energy, and greenhouse gas mitigation and associated environmental technologies. Current volumes in the series are:

Supercapacitors. Materials, Systems, and Applications

Functional Nanostructured Materials and Membranes for Water Treatment

Materials for High-Temperature Fuel Cells

Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells

Advanced Thermoelectric Materials. Fundamentals and Applications

Advanced Lithium-Ion Batteries. Recent Trends and Perspectives

Photocatalysis and Water Purification. From Fundamentals to Recent Applications

In presenting this volume on Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells, I would like to thank the authors and editors of this important book, for their tremendous effort and hard work in completing the manuscript in a timely manner. The quality of the chapters reflects well the caliber of the contributing authors to this book, and will no doubt be recognized and valued by readers.

Finally, I would like to thank the editorial board members. I am grateful to their excellent advice and help in terms of examining coverage of topics and suggesting authors, and evaluating book proposals.

I would also like to thank the editors from the publisher Wiley-VCH with whom I have worked since 2008, Dr Esther Levy, Dr Gudrun Walter, Dr Bente Flier, and Dr Martin Graf-Utzmann for their professional assistance and strong support during this project.

I hope you will find this book interesting, informative and valuable as a reference in your work. We will endeavour to bring to you further volumes in this series or update you on the future book plans in this growing field.

Brisbane, Australia

31 July 2012

G.Q. Max Lu

About the Series Editor

Professor Max Lu

Editor, New Materials for Sustainable Energy and Development Series

Professor Lu's research expertise is in the areas of materials chemistry and nanotechnology. He is known for his work on nanoparticles and nanoporous materials for clean energy and environmental technologies. With over 500 journal publications in high-impact journals, including Nature, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, and Advanced Materials, he is also coinventor of 20 international patents. Professor Lu is an Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Highly Cited Author in Materials Science with over 17 500 citations (h-index of 63). He has received numerous prestigious awards nationally and internationally, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences International Cooperation Award (2011), the Orica Award, the RK Murphy Medal, the Le Fevre Prize, the ExxonMobil Award, the Chemeca Medal, the Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia (2004, 2010, and 2012), and the Top 50 Most Influential Chinese in the World (2006). He won the Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship twice (2003 and 2008). He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and Fellow of Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). He is editor and editorial board member of 12 major international journals including Journal of Colloid and Interface Science and Carbon.

Max Lu has been Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research) since 2009. He previously held positions of acting Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2012), acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Linkages) from October 2008 to June 2009. He was also the Foundation Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials from 2003 to 2009.

Professor Lu had formerly served on many government committees and advisory groups including the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (2004, 2005, and 2009) and the ARC College of Experts (2002–2004). He is the past Chairman of the IChemE Australia Board and former Director of the Board of ATSE. His other previous board memberships include Uniseed Pty Ltd., ARC Nanotechnology Network, and Queensland China Council. He is currently Board member of the Australian Synchrotron, National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources, and Research Data Storage Infrastructure. He also holds a ministerial appointment as member of the National Emerging Technologies Forum.

About the Volume Editors

Associate Professor Bradley Ladewig is an academic in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University, Australia, where he leads a research group developing membrane materials and technologies for clean energy applications. He has a wide range of experience as a chemical engineering researcher, including in membrane development for direct methanol fuel cells, testing and modeling of combined heat and power PEM fuel cell systems, and desalination membrane development. Recently he has worked on several collaborative projects in the field of direct carbon fuel cells, metal organic framework materials as gas sorbents and membrane components, and low-cost microfluidic sensors based on paper and thread substrates. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Professor San Ping Jiang is a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Deputy Director of Fuels and Energy Technology Institute, Curtin University, Australia and Adjunct Professor of the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He also holds Visiting/Guest Professorships at the Southwest University, Central South University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Guangzhou University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Sichung University, and Shandong University. Dr. Jiang has broad experience in both academia and industry, having held positions at Nanyang Technological University, the CSIRO Manufacturing Science and Technology Division in Australia, and Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd (CFCL). His research interests encompass solid oxide fuel cells, proton exchange and direct methanol fuel cells, direct alcohol fuel cells, and electrolysis. With an h-index of 50, he has published over 270 journal papers, which have accrued ∼8,500 citations.

Professor Yushan Yan is Distinguished Engineering Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. His previous positions include Presidential Chair, University Scholar, and Department Chair at the University of California Riverside and Senior Staff Engineer at AlliedSignal Inc. He was instrumental to the formation of technology startups such as NanoH2O, Full Cycle Energy, Zeolite Solution Materials, and OH-Energy. His research focuses on zeolite thin films and electrochemical devices including fuel cells, electrolyzers, solar hydrogen and redox flow batteries. He has published 160+ journal papers and has a h-index of 52. He was recognized by the Donald Breck Award from the International Zeolite Association and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

List of Contributors

Benjamin M. Asquith

Monash University

Department of Chemical Engineering

Clayton Campus

Melbourne, VIC 3800

Australia

and

Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V.

Hohe Strasse 6

01069 Dresden

Germany

Daniel J.L. Brett

University College of London

Department of Chemical Engineering

Electrochemical Innovation Lab

Torrington Place

London WC1E 7JE

UK

Yanzhen Fan

Oregon State University

Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering

116 Gilmore Hall

Corvallis, OR 97331

USA

Shuang Gu

University of Delaware

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

150 Academy Street

Newark, DE 19716

USA

Falk Harnisch

The University of Queensland

Advanced Water Management Centre

Brisbane, QLD 4072

Australia

and

TU Braunschweig

Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry

38106 Braunschweig

Germany

Rhodri Jervis

University College of London

Department of Chemical Engineering

Electrochemical Innovation Lab

Torrington Place

London WC1E 7JE

UK

Luhua Jiang

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics

Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy

Division of Fuel Cell & Battery

457 Zhongshan Road

Dalian 116023

China

Robert B. Kaspar

University of Delaware

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

150 Academy Street

Newark, DE 19716

USA

Bradley P. Ladewig

Monash University

Department of Chemical Engineering

Clayton Campus

Melbourne, VIC 3800

Australia

Wenzhen Li

Michigan Technological University

Chemical Engineering Department

1400 Townsend Drive

Houghton, MI 49931

USA

Hong Liu

Oregon State University

Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering

116 Gilmore Hall

Corvallis, OR 97331

USA

Jochen Meier-Haack

Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V.

Hohe Strasse 6

01069 Dresden

Germany

Nam-Trung Nguyen

Nanyang Technological University

School of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering

Nanyang Avenue 50

Singapore 639798

Singapore

Korneel Rabaey

The University of Queensland

Advanced Water Management Centre

Brisbane, QLD 4072

Australia

and

Ghent University

Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET)

Coupure Links 653

9000 Ghent

Belgium

Seyed Ali Mousavi Shaegh

Nanyang Technological University

School of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering

Nanyang Avenue 50

Singapore 639798

Singapore

Gongquan Sun

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics

Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy

Division of Fuel Cell & Battery

457 Zhongshan Road

Dalian 116023

China

Junhua Wang

University of Delaware

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

150 Academy Street

Newark, DE 19716

USA

Shuangyin Wang

Nanyang Technological University

School of Chemical and Biomedicinal Engineering

Nanyang Avenue 50

Singapore 639798

Singapore

Xin Wang

Nanyang Technological University

School of Chemical and Biomedicinal Engineering

Nanyang Avenue 50

Singapore 639798

Singapore

Yushan Yan

University of Delaware

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

150 Academy Street

Newark, DE 19716

USA

Bingzi Zhang

University of Delaware

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

150 Academy Street

Newark, DE 19716

USA

1Key Materials for Low-Temperature Fuel Cells: An Introduction

Bradley P. Ladewig, Benjamin M. Asquith, and Jochen Meier-Haack

The promise of lower temperature fuel cells as versatile, efficient power sources has been made many times, both in academia and in the corporate world. Their potential as devices capable of converting chemical energy into electrical energy at high efficiency has been known for many years; however, despite an enormous worldwide research effort, they have not achieved mainstream commercial success.

One of the key impediments that is universally recognized is that there remain a series of key materials challenges that must be overcome before low-temperature fuel cells can achieve their full potential. In this book, we present a snapshot of the current state of the art, critically reviewed, as it relates to the materials challenges facing low-temperature fuel cells. In terms of what actually constitutes a low-temperature fuel cell, since there is no universal definition, we adopt here the convention of a fuel cell operating below 200 °C. In most cases, low-temperature fuel cells operate well below 100 °C; however, given the advances that have been made with high-performance polymer membranes (in particular, based on polybenzimidazole, as highlighted in Chapter 5), there now exists the potential to operate some systems with a vapor-phase feed. Clearly, this takes advantage of the superior reaction kinetics at elevated temperatures and allows for greater power density devices.

This book does not seek to be an all-encompassing encyclopedia that addresses every materials aspect of low-temperature fuel cells. Readers seeking a comprehensive reference work should consult the excellent handbook edited by Wolf Vielstich [1]. Rather, we have sought to highlight the key, contemporary challenges of interest to the fuel cell researcher (and those working in industry). We have intentionally sought to focus on the emerging areas of interest, with a particular focus on alkaline exchange (or hydroxide exchange) membrane fuel cells. These fuel cells are a radical departure from the thousands of research works published over the past decades that focused exclusively on proton exchange or cation exchange membrane low-temperature fuel cells (most obviously because the earlier high-performance membranes, from the chloralkali industry, were cation exchange membranes). There are critical materials challenges in advancing alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells, not least of which is the development of a new suite of polymer membranes that selectively transport hydroxide ions. There are also more subtle catalyst selection issues, and these are covered in quite some detail in this book.

Two other specific areas must be mentioned in this introduction: the emerging fields of microbial fuel cells and microfluidic fuel cells. In some ways these two new fields can be considered embodiments of low-temperature fuel cells operating at the extreme size scales – microbial fuel cells have their genesis in the exploration of wastewater treatment in electrochemical and bioelectrochemical systems. These proposed applications are by their nature enormous in size, with reactor volumes measured in the tens of cubic meters (many orders of magnitude larger than the conventional low-temperature fuel cells).

In contrast, microfluidic fuel cells are at the opposite end of the size spectrum, and have come into the realm of fuel cell research in the past decade as the general field of microfluidics has exploded with interest. This has been driven not only through the widespread availability of the tools for fabrication of microfluidic devices but also by the possible application of microfluidic fuel cells in functional devices such as sensors and health care products.

The following chapters address a broad spectrum of topics, and it is hoped that the reader will recognize and appreciate the underlying theme of this book, which is to highlight the key materials challenges facing the field of low-temperature fuel cells, and expertly and concisely review the current state of the art.

Reference

1.

Vielstich, W. (2009)

Handbook of Fuel Cells, 6 Volume Set

, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

2Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Rhodri Jervis and Daniel J.L. Brett

2.1 Fuel Cells

Fuel cells represent a potentially integral technology in a greener electricity-based energy economy. Converting chemical energy directly into electricity with no moving parts and no particulate or greenhouse gas emissions at point of operation, they can offer higher efficiencies than combustion and greater energy storage and reduced “charge” times compared with batteries. While they retain few of the disadvantages of existing electricity generation technologies, a major barrier to commercialization and widespread use at present is cost. The key working part of a fuel cell, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), comprises a catalyst, usually containing platinum, and an ionic polymer membrane, both of which contribute significantly to the overall cost of a fuel cell. This chapter will concentrate on the potential for alkaline anion exchange membrane (AAEM) fuel cells to provide a route to reduced costs and help realize commercial ubiquity of fuel cells in various energy sectors. We will first discuss the basic principles of the more common acidic PEM fuel cells and the thermodynamics and kinetics of the electrochemical reactions governing their operation, before explaining the key differences in AAEM fuel cells and how they might provide an advantage over the more established technology.

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!