Improved Ionomers and Membranes for Fuel Cells

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are one of the most promising energy conversion technologies for renewable clean energy applications. The development of alternatives to current commercial perfluorosulfonic acid based membranes, that lower cost and increase performance, would increase penetration of fuel cell technology into the mass market. This work will focus on the synthesis and development of new, improved ionomers and membranes to increase the efficiency and reduce costs of high power density fuel cells. Specific requirements to be addressed include reduced hydrogen permeation (to improve efficiency and limit potentially hazardous mixing of hydrogen and oxygen), increased performance over a range of humidity and temperature conditions, reduced costs and improved durability compared with current commercially available materials. Our Phase I approach will be to initially obtain baseline data and assess the performance of our ionomer technology developed for an alternative application. The backbone molecular architecture and chemical functionality of these conductive polymers will then be systematically modified to highlight the most promising pathways to meet current and future fuel cell performance requirements. New membranes will be evaluated for conductivity, gas permeability, chemical and physical durability and in situ fuel cell performance and durability both in-house and at the state of art facilities of our internationally recognized collaborator.Success of this work would be a significant step toward clean energy production in two of the largest energy markets, transportation and stationary power (including back-up power). The development of more efficient fuel cells would result in a reduced dependence on fossil fuels and the associated economic, political and environmental issues related to their extraction, refinement, supply and final use.