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High-performance ionomerless cathode anion-exchange membrane fuel cells with ultra-low-loading Ag–Pd alloy electrocatalysts

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 1262–1272 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Rapid translation of catalysts from fundamental studies to high-performance devices could facilitate the development and commercialization of anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). Traditionally, translation from material screening in three-electrode rotating disk electrode cells to AEMFCs is complicated by differences in microenvironments, for example, solid ionomer/membrane vs liquid electrolyte. Here we introduce a platform for translation to devices that utilizes ionomerless ultra-low-loading Ag–Pd alloy electrocatalyst cathodes synthesized by co-physical vapour deposition. Our ionomerless cathodes allow for systematic H2–O2 AEMFC experiments while demonstrating comparable activity trends to those in three-electrode cells. Furthermore, we show that our Ag10Pd90-based AEMFC reaches a peak power density of ∼1 W \({\rm{cm}}_{\rm{geo}}^{-2}\) (geometric area basis) and ∼10 W \({\rm{mg}}_{\rm{PGM}\; \rm{Cathode}}^{-1}\), satisfying the US Department of Energy’s platinum group metal (PGM) loading and cost targets. Our approach shows promise in facilitating the rapid translation between three-electrode studies and AEMFCs, offering a simple and effective design for decreasing PGM loadings.

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Fig. 1: Representative SEM-EDS images of a Ag10Pd90 GDE synthesized by PVD.
Fig. 2: AEMFC performance with PVD-synthesized ionomerless Ag1−xPdx cathodes.
Fig. 3: Comparisons between AEMFC and RDE performance trends.
Fig. 4: Optimized AEMFCs with PVD-synthesized ionomerless Ag10Pd90 cathodes.
Fig. 5: Comparison of performance and cost.

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All raw data plotted in this work can be accessed via Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22141169)47. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

Fuel cell testing and anode optimization work were partially funded by the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) to R.K.S. and D.R.D.; the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (grant number 1481/17) to D.R.D.; the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion to D.R.D.; the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources of Israel (grant number 3-17591 (220-11-040)) to D.R.D.; the Planning and Budgeting Committee/ISRAEL Council for Higher Education (CHE) and Fuel Choice Initiative (Prime Minister’s Office of ISRAEL), within the framework of ‘Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion (INREP)’ to D.R.D. Cathode GDE materials and characterization were supported by the Toyota Research Institute (J.A.Z.Z., M.E.K, M.B.S., T.F.J.). Thin film synthesis efforts and anode characterization were supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division, Catalysis Science Program to the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis (J.A.Z.Z., M.B.S., T.F.J.). Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS-1542152. J.C.D. personally wishes to thank I. and J. Jacobs and the Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center for their generous financial support in the forms of the Jacobs Fellowship and ISTRC Scholarship, respectively. J.A.Z.Z. gratefully acknowledges support of the Gates Millennium Graduate Fellowship/Scholarship.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: John C. Douglin, José A. Zamora Zeledón.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    John C. Douglin, Ramesh K. Singh & Dario R. Dekel

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    José A. Zamora Zeledón, Melissa E. Kreider & Thomas F. Jaramillo

  3. SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA

    José A. Zamora Zeledón, Melissa E. Kreider, Michaela Burke Stevens & Thomas F. Jaramillo

  4. The Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP), Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Ramesh K. Singh & Dario R. Dekel

  5. CO2 Research and Green Technologies Centre, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India

    Ramesh K. Singh

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Contributions

Conceptualization by J.C.D., J.A.Z.Z., M.B.S., T.F.J. and D.R.D.; data collection by J.C.D., J.A.Z.Z. and M.E.K.; data analysis by J.C.D., J.A.Z.Z., M.E.K., R.K.S., M.B.S., T.F.J. and D.R.D.; writing—original draft by J.C.D., J.A.Z.Z.; writing—review, editing and approval of final version by J.C.D., J.A.Z.Z., M.E.K., R.K.S., M.B.S., T.F.J. and D.R.D.; funding acquisition by T.F.J. and D.R.D.; supervision by M.B.S., T.F.J. and D.R.D.

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Correspondence to Michaela Burke Stevens, Thomas F. Jaramillo or Dario R. Dekel.

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Douglin, J.C., Zamora Zeledón, J.A., Kreider, M.E. et al. High-performance ionomerless cathode anion-exchange membrane fuel cells with ultra-low-loading Ag–Pd alloy electrocatalysts. Nat Energy 8, 1262–1272 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01385-7

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