Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) for portable power applications requires high power density and high-energy conversion efficiency which largely depends on membrane and electrocatalyst to achieve high performance. In improving these factors, the first objective of this study was to synthesize and ch...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rosli, Siti Erlyane
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/78543/1/SitiErlyyaneRosliMFPREE2015.pdf
_version_ 1796862872287969280
author Rosli, Siti Erlyane
author_facet Rosli, Siti Erlyane
author_sort Rosli, Siti Erlyane
collection ePrints
description Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) for portable power applications requires high power density and high-energy conversion efficiency which largely depends on membrane and electrocatalyst to achieve high performance. In improving these factors, the first objective of this study was to synthesize and characterize sulfonatedpoly- ether-ether-ketone (SPEEK) and SPEEK/ charged surface modifying macromolecules (cSMM). The second objective was to synthesize and characterize Platinum/Ruthenium (Pt/Ru) catalyst for anode and Palladium (Pd) catalyst for cathode. Consequently, the third objective was to test the performance of SPEEK/cSMM using single cell DMFC under different catalyst loadings. In this work, 20 wt %, 30 wt % and 40 wt % Pt/Ru were used as the catalyst for anode while 5 wt % and 10 wt % Pd were used on the cathode, with three different loadings of 2, 4 and 6 mg/cm2, respectively for each 4 cm2-electrode. The electrodes were prepared using catalyzed diffusion media (CDM) method, while the membrane electrode assembly (MEAs) was prepared by hot pressing method. The single cell DMFC tests were run at constant condition of 100 ml min-1 air flowrate, 1M methanol concentration, 1 ml min-1 methanol flowrate and 60°C operating temperature, respectively. In finding the suitable catalyst loading in anode, commercial 40 wt % Pt electrode was used as the cathode. On the anode, it was found that the best result of catalyst loading was 30 wt % Pt/Ru with 4 mg/cm2, which then was used to get the suitable catalyst loading in cathode for 5 wt % and 10 wt % of Pd/Carbon. On the cathode, the best catalyst loading was 10 wt % Pd with 4 mg/cm2 loading. By applying the best loading of catalysts, the highest power density of 123 mW/cm2 was achieved, eventhough its open circuit voltage (OCV) and ohmic voltage yielded the lowest values. This shows that a combination of the best anode and cathode loading were able to generate the highest power density for SPEEK/cSMM electrolyte membrane for DMFC application.
first_indexed 2024-03-05T20:18:10Z
format Thesis
id utm.eprints-78543
institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia - ePrints
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-05T20:18:10Z
publishDate 2015
record_format dspace
spelling utm.eprints-785432018-08-27T03:24:17Z http://eprints.utm.my/78543/ Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes Rosli, Siti Erlyane TP Chemical technology Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) for portable power applications requires high power density and high-energy conversion efficiency which largely depends on membrane and electrocatalyst to achieve high performance. In improving these factors, the first objective of this study was to synthesize and characterize sulfonatedpoly- ether-ether-ketone (SPEEK) and SPEEK/ charged surface modifying macromolecules (cSMM). The second objective was to synthesize and characterize Platinum/Ruthenium (Pt/Ru) catalyst for anode and Palladium (Pd) catalyst for cathode. Consequently, the third objective was to test the performance of SPEEK/cSMM using single cell DMFC under different catalyst loadings. In this work, 20 wt %, 30 wt % and 40 wt % Pt/Ru were used as the catalyst for anode while 5 wt % and 10 wt % Pd were used on the cathode, with three different loadings of 2, 4 and 6 mg/cm2, respectively for each 4 cm2-electrode. The electrodes were prepared using catalyzed diffusion media (CDM) method, while the membrane electrode assembly (MEAs) was prepared by hot pressing method. The single cell DMFC tests were run at constant condition of 100 ml min-1 air flowrate, 1M methanol concentration, 1 ml min-1 methanol flowrate and 60°C operating temperature, respectively. In finding the suitable catalyst loading in anode, commercial 40 wt % Pt electrode was used as the cathode. On the anode, it was found that the best result of catalyst loading was 30 wt % Pt/Ru with 4 mg/cm2, which then was used to get the suitable catalyst loading in cathode for 5 wt % and 10 wt % of Pd/Carbon. On the cathode, the best catalyst loading was 10 wt % Pd with 4 mg/cm2 loading. By applying the best loading of catalysts, the highest power density of 123 mW/cm2 was achieved, eventhough its open circuit voltage (OCV) and ohmic voltage yielded the lowest values. This shows that a combination of the best anode and cathode loading were able to generate the highest power density for SPEEK/cSMM electrolyte membrane for DMFC application. 2015-09 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.utm.my/78543/1/SitiErlyyaneRosliMFPREE2015.pdf Rosli, Siti Erlyane (2015) Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes. Masters thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Petroleum and Renewable Energy Engineering. http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:105171
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Rosli, Siti Erlyane
Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title_full Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title_fullStr Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title_full_unstemmed Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title_short Effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated-poly-ether-ether-ketone/charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
title_sort effect of catalyst loading in direct methanol fuel cell using sulfonated poly ether ether ketone charged surface modifying macromolecules membranes
topic TP Chemical technology
url http://eprints.utm.my/78543/1/SitiErlyyaneRosliMFPREE2015.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT roslisitierlyane effectofcatalystloadingindirectmethanolfuelcellusingsulfonatedpolyetheretherketonechargedsurfacemodifyingmacromoleculesmembranes