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Membranes
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Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
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Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 18243

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tabbi Wilberforce Awotwe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: fuel cells; electrolyzers; renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Interests: renewable energy; fuel cells; microbial fuel cells; energy storage; water desalination
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Amani Al-Othman

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah PO. Box 26666, United Arab Emirates
Interests: PEM fuel cells; electrochemical systems; energy storage; nanocomposite materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Muhammad Tawalbeh

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah PO. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Interests: fuel cells; renewable energy systems; membrane separation; energy storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

As the world continues to strive for renewable and sustainable media of energy generation to curb issues pertaining to climate change, fuel cells are considered one of the most pragmatic energy-converting devices that can make this target a reality. Fuel cells, by definition, are energy-converting devices that produce electricity via electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The byproducts of this are water and heat, hence making the process environmentally friendly. Energy-converting devices are suitable for stationary, portable and transport applications. The commercialisation of this technology has been a major challenge due to factors associated with the cost of the various components in the cell. Materials for the development of the bipolar plate coupled with the membrane have been a key concern of the research community due to the overall effect of these components on the entire fuel cell cost.

This Special Issue therefore invites novel contributions in terms of material characterization ideal for the development of various components in the fuel cells. The Special Issue will consider outcomes of theoretical and experimental results in this ground-breaking research area. Research and review articles are therefore invited in this Special Issue to meet the growing demand for the development of novel, sustainable and environmentally friendly but less expensive fuel cells for automotive and stationary applications.

Dr. Tabbi Wilberforce
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Abdelkareem
Dr. Amani Al-Othman
Dr. Muhammad Tawalbeh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Fuel cells
  • Graphite
  • Graphene
  • Nanomaterials

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2243 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes via Modification with Ionic Liquids for Fuel Cell Applications
by Jonathan Teik Ean Goh, Ainul Rasyidah Abdul Rahim, Mohd Shahbudin Masdar and Loh Kee Shyuan
Membranes 2021, 11(6), 395; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11060395 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3036
Abstract
The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is a key component in the PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) system. This study highlights the latest development of PEM technology by combining Nafion® and ionic liquids, namely 2–Hydroxyethylammonium Formate (2–HEAF) and Propylammonium Nitrate (PAN). Test membranes were [...] Read more.
The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is a key component in the PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) system. This study highlights the latest development of PEM technology by combining Nafion® and ionic liquids, namely 2–Hydroxyethylammonium Formate (2–HEAF) and Propylammonium Nitrate (PAN). Test membranes were prepared using the casting technique. The impact of functional groups in grafting, morphology, thermal stability, ion exchange capacity, water absorption, swelling and proton conductivity for the prepared membranes is discussed. Both hybrid membranes showed higher values in ion exchange capacity, water uptake and swelling rate as compared to the recast pure Nafion® membrane. The results also show that the proton conductivity of Nafion®/2–HEAF and Nafion®/PAN membranes increased with increasing ionic liquid concentrations. The maximum values of proton conductivity for Nafion®/2–HEAF and Nafion®/PAN membranes were 2.87 and 4.55 mScm−1, respectively, equivalent to 2.2 and 3.5 times that of the pure recast Nafion® membrane. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells)
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15 pages, 10236 KiB  
Article
A Molecular Model of PEMFC Catalyst Layer: Simulation on Reactant Transport and Thermal Conduction
by Wenkai Wang, Zhiguo Qu, Xueliang Wang and Jianfei Zhang
Membranes 2021, 11(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020148 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 3624
Abstract
Minimizing platinum (Pt) loading while reserving high reaction efficiency in the catalyst layer (CL) has been confirmed as one of the key issues in improving the performance and application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). To enhance the reaction efficiency of Pt [...] Read more.
Minimizing platinum (Pt) loading while reserving high reaction efficiency in the catalyst layer (CL) has been confirmed as one of the key issues in improving the performance and application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). To enhance the reaction efficiency of Pt catalyst in CL, the interfacial interactions in the three-phase interface, i.e., carbon, Pt, and ionomer should be first clarified. In this study, a molecular model containing carbon, Pt, and ionomer compositions is built and the radial distribution functions (RDFs), diffusion coefficient, water cluster morphology, and thermal conductivity are investigated after the equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) and nonequilibrium MD simulations. The results indicate that increasing water content improves water aggregation and cluster interconnection, both of which benefit the transport of oxygen and proton in the CL. The growing amount of ionomer promotes proton transport but generates additional resistance to oxygen. Both the increase of water and ionomer improve the thermal conductivity of the C. The above-mentioned findings are expected to help design catalyst layers with optimized Pt content and enhanced reaction efficiency, and further improve the performance of PEMFCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells)
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20 pages, 9252 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Fuel Cell Performance Using Computational Fluid Dynamics
by Tabbi Wilberforce, Oluwatosin Ijaodola, Ogungbemi Emmanuel, James Thompson, Abdul Ghani Olabi, Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, Enas Taha Sayed, Khaled Elsaid and Hussein M. Maghrabie
Membranes 2021, 11(2), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020146 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4220
Abstract
A low cost bipolar plate materials with a high fuel cell performance is important for the establishment of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM ) fuel cells into the competitive world market. In this research, the effect of different bipolar plates material such as Aluminum [...] Read more.
A low cost bipolar plate materials with a high fuel cell performance is important for the establishment of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM ) fuel cells into the competitive world market. In this research, the effect of different bipolar plates material such as Aluminum (Al), Copper (Cu), and Stainless Steel (SS) of a single stack of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells was investigated both numerically and experimentally. Firstly, a three dimensional (3D) PEM fuel cell model was developed, and simulations were conducted using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ANSYS FLUENT to examine the effect of each bipolar plate materials on cell performance. Along with cell performance, significant parameters distributions like temperature, pressure, a mass fraction of hydrogen, oxygen, and water is presented. Then, an experimental study of a single cell of Al, Cu, and SS bipolar plate material was used in the verification of the numerical investigation. Finally, polarization curves of numerical and experimental results was compared for validation, and the result shows that Al serpentine bipolar plate material performed better than Cu and SS materials. The outcome of the investigation was in tandem to the fact that due to adsorption on metal surfaces, hydrogen molecules is more stable on Al surface than Cu and SS surfaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells)
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Review

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30 pages, 3968 KiB  
Review
A Critical Review on the Use of Ionic Liquids in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
by Adnan Alashkar, Amani Al-Othman, Muhammad Tawalbeh and Muhammad Qasim
Membranes 2022, 12(2), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020178 - 02 Feb 2022
Cited by 49 | Viewed by 6507
Abstract
This work provides a comprehensive review on the incorporation of ionic liquid (ILs) into polymer blends and their utilization as proton exchanges membranes (PEM). Various conventional polymers that incorporate ILs are discussed, such as Nafion, poly (vinylidene fluoride), polybenzimidazole, sulfonated poly (ether ether [...] Read more.
This work provides a comprehensive review on the incorporation of ionic liquid (ILs) into polymer blends and their utilization as proton exchanges membranes (PEM). Various conventional polymers that incorporate ILs are discussed, such as Nafion, poly (vinylidene fluoride), polybenzimidazole, sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone), and sulfonated polyimide. The methods of synthesis of IL/polymer composite membranes are summarized and the role of ionic liquids as electrolytes and structure directing agents in PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs) is presented. In addition, the obstacles that are reported to impede the development of commercial polymerized IL membranes are highlighted in this work. The paper concludes that the presence of certain ILs can increase the conductivity of the PEM, and consequently, enhance the performance of PEMFCs. Nevertheless, the leakage of ILs from composite membranes as well as the limited long-term thermal and mechanical stability are considered as the main challenges that limit the employment of IL/polymer composite membranes in PEMFCs, especially for high-temperature applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Novel Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells)
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