IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v8y2015i7p7070-7083d52474.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Development and Characterization of Non-Conventional Micro-Porous Layers for PEM Fuel Cells

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Balzarotti

    (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "G. Natta", Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy)

  • Saverio Latorrata

    (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "G. Natta", Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Paola Gallo Stampino

    (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "G. Natta", Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Cinzia Cristiani

    (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "G. Natta", Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Giovanni Dotelli

    (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "G. Natta", Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

Gas diffusion medium (GDM) is a crucial component in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Being composed of a gas diffusion layer (GDL) with a micro-porous layer (MPL) coated onto it, it ensures a proper water management due to the highly hydrophobic materials employed in cell assembly. In current commercial applications, the desired water repellent behaviour is usually obtained by using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). In this work, Fluorolink ® P56 (Solvay Specialty Polymers, Milan, Italy), a commercially available, anionic, segmented high molecular weight polyfluorourethane with perfluoropolyether groups was extensively evaluated as an alternative to PTFE for micro-porous layer hydrophobization. A change in polymer used is desirable in order to simplify the production process, both in terms of ink formulation and thermal treatment, as well as to get a higher hydrophobicity and, consequently, more efficient water management. Innovative prepared samples were compared to a PTFE-based GDM, in order to assess differences both from morphological and from an electrochemical point of view.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Balzarotti & Saverio Latorrata & Paola Gallo Stampino & Cinzia Cristiani & Giovanni Dotelli, 2015. "Development and Characterization of Non-Conventional Micro-Porous Layers for PEM Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-14, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:8:y:2015:i:7:p:7070-7083:d:52474
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/7/7070/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/7/7070/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wee, Jung-Ho, 2007. "Applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 1720-1738, October.
    2. Chun, Jeong Hwan & Jo, Dong Hyun & Kim, Sang Gon & Park, Sun Hee & Lee, Chang Hoon & Lee, Eun Sook & Jyoung, Jy-Young & Kim, Sung Hyun, 2013. "Development of a porosity-graded micro porous layer using thermal expandable graphite for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 28-33.
    3. Mengbo Ji & Zidong Wei, 2009. "A Review of Water Management in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-50, November.
    4. Nagl, Stephan & Fürsch, Michaela & Paulus, Moritz & Richter, Jan & Trüby, Johannes & Lindenberger, Dietmar, 2011. "Energy policy scenarios to reach challenging climate protection targets in the German electricity sector until 2050," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 185-192.
    5. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V. & Werner, S. & Möller, B. & Persson, U. & Boermans, T. & Trier, D. & Østergaard, P.A. & Nielsen, S., 2014. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Combining district heating with heat savings to decarbonise the EU energy system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 475-489.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lee, F.C. & Ismail, M.S. & Ingham, D.B. & Hughes, K.J. & Ma, L & Lyth, S.M. & Pourkashanian, M., 2022. "Alternative architectures and materials for PEMFC gas diffusion layers: A review and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Wong, A.K.C. & Ge, N. & Shrestha, P. & Liu, H. & Fahy, K. & Bazylak, A., 2019. "Polytetrafluoroethylene content in standalone microporous layers: Tradeoff between membrane hydration and mass transport losses in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 549-560.
    3. Marco Mariani & Andrea Basso Peressut & Saverio Latorrata & Riccardo Balzarotti & Maurizio Sansotera & Giovanni Dotelli, 2021. "The Role of Fluorinated Polymers in the Water Management of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Riccardo Balzarotti & Saverio Latorrata & Marco Mariani & Paola Gallo Stampino & Giovanni Dotelli, 2020. "Optimization of Perfluoropolyether-Based Gas Diffusion Media Preparation for PEM Fuel Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Devin Fowler & Vladimir Gurau & Daniel Cox, 2019. "Bridging the Gap between Automated Manufacturing of Fuel Cell Components and Robotic Assembly of Fuel Cell Stacks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Allagui, Anis & Sayed, Enas Taha & El Haj Assad, M. & Said, Zafar & Elsaid, Khaled, 2019. "Comparative analysis of liquid versus vapor-feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 563-584.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Theory and practice of flow field designs for fuel cell scaling-up: A critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 640-663.
    2. Brouwer, Anne Sjoerd & van den Broek, Machteld & Zappa, William & Turkenburg, Wim C. & Faaij, André, 2016. "Least-cost options for integrating intermittent renewables in low-carbon power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 48-74.
    3. Abdin, Z. & Webb, C.J. & Gray, E.MacA., 2016. "PEM fuel cell model and simulation in Matlab–Simulink based on physical parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 1131-1144.
    4. Persson, Urban & Wiechers, Eva & Möller, Bernd & Werner, Sven, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Heat distribution costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 604-622.
    5. Aunedi, Marko & Pantaleo, Antonio Marco & Kuriyan, Kamal & Strbac, Goran & Shah, Nilay, 2020. "Modelling of national and local interactions between heat and electricity networks in low-carbon energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    7. Guelpa, Elisa & Bischi, Aldo & Verda, Vittorio & Chertkov, Michael & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Towards future infrastructures for sustainable multi-energy systems: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 2-21.
    8. Leurent, Martin & Jasserand, Frédéric & Locatelli, Giorgio & Palm, Jenny & Rämä, Miika & Trianni, Andrea, 2017. "Driving forces and obstacles to nuclear cogeneration in Europe: Lessons learnt from Finland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 138-150.
    9. Hemmatabady, Hoofar & Welsch, Bastian & Formhals, Julian & Sass, Ingo, 2022. "AI-based enviro-economic optimization of solar-coupled and standalone geothermal systems for heating and cooling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    10. Erdinc, O. & Uzunoglu, M., 2010. "Recent trends in PEM fuel cell-powered hybrid systems: Investigation of application areas, design architectures and energy management approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2874-2884, December.
    11. Samuel Simon Araya & Fan Zhou & Simon Lennart Sahlin & Sobi Thomas & Christian Jeppesen & Søren Knudsen Kær, 2019. "Fault Characterization of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stack," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, January.
    12. Clegg, Stephen & Mancarella, Pierluigi, 2019. "Integrated electricity-heat-gas modelling and assessment, with applications to the Great Britain system. Part II: Transmission network analysis and low carbon technology and resilience case studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 191-203.
    13. Lehr, Ulrike & Lutz, Christian & Edler, Dietmar, 2012. "Green jobs? Economic impacts of renewable energy in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 358-364.
    14. Wang, Manyu & Wei, Chu, 2024. "Toward sustainable heating: Assessment of the carbon mitigation potential from residential heating in northern rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Chambers, Jonathan & Narula, Kapil & Sulzer, Matthias & Patel, Martin K., 2019. "Mapping district heating potential under evolving thermal demand scenarios and technologies: A case study for Switzerland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 682-692.
    16. Brinkley, Catherine, 2018. "The conundrum of combustible clean energy: Sweden's history of siting district heating smokestacks in residential areas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 526-532.
    17. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2021. "Variable taxes promoting district heating heat pump flexibility," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    18. Yao, Jing & Wu, Zhen & Wang, Huan & Yang, Fusheng & Xuan, Jin & Xing, Lei & Ren, Jianwei & Zhang, Zaoxiao, 2022. "Design and multi-objective optimization of low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with efficient water recovery and high electrochemical performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    19. Bruninx, Kenneth & Madzharov, Darin & Delarue, Erik & D'haeseleer, William, 2013. "Impact of the German nuclear phase-out on Europe's electricity generation—A comprehensive study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 251-261.
    20. Truong, Nguyen Le & Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif, 2018. "Effects of energy efficiency measures in district-heated buildings on energy supply," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1114-1127.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:8:y:2015:i:7:p:7070-7083:d:52474. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.