Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society (전기화학회지)

The Korean Electrochemical Society (한국전기화학회)
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Reduction of Methanol Crossover in a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Using the Pt-Coated Electrolyte Membrane

  • Jung, Eun-Mi (Advanced Fuel Cell Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Rhee, Young-Woo (Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Peck, Dong-Hyun (Advanced Fuel Cell Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Lee, Byoung-Rok (Advanced Fuel Cell Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Kim, Sang-Kyung (Advanced Fuel Cell Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Jung, Doo-Hwan (Advanced Fuel Cell Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
  • Published : 2008.02.28
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Abstract

A Pt-layer was deposited on the anode side of a Nafion membrane via a sputtering method in order to reduce methanol crossover in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The methanol permeation and the proton conductivity through the modified membranes were investigated. The performances of the direct methanol fuel cell were also tested using single cells with a Nafion membrane and the modified membranes. The Pt-layers on the membrane blocked both methanol crossover and proton transport through the membranes. Methanol permeability and proton conductivity decreased with an increase of the platinum layer thickness. At methanol concentration of 2 M, the DMFC employing the modified membrane with a platinum layer of 66 nm-thickness showed similar performance to that of a DMFC with a bare Nafion membrane in spite of the lower proton conductivity of the former. The maximum power density of the cell using the modified membrane with a platinum layer of 66 nm-thickness increased slightly while that of the cell with the bare membrane decreased abruptly when a methanol solution of 6M was supplied.

Keywords

References

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