High-temperature PEM fuel cells

HT PEMFC

Within KEMA, several fuel-cell projects are currently in progress or pending. These projects vary from investigating new, fundamental properties of fuel-cell architecture to studies how to implement such fuel-cell systems in the market, for example in μCHP applications.

A fuel cell can be compared to a battery that is continuously fed with fresh fuel however, instead of charging a cell with an electric current, fuel and air are fed into it and catalytically combusted. A proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) operates using an electrode coated with platinum (the catalyst) to ionize hydrogen gas. The hydrogen ions (also known as protons) are absorbed in a proton exchange membrane, which transports the protons to the other side of the membrane. There, the protons react with oxygen from the air. The membrane does not conduct electrons; an electric circuit, which delivers the electrical power to the application, conducts electrons.

Project
A current state-of-the-art PEMFC must be kept at a temperature of about 90˚C. If the temperature is higher or lower, fuel-cell performance will be impaired. The fuel for a PEMFC is ultra-pure hydrogen gas. Because it is difficult to prepare, store, and transport such pure hydrogen, it would be advantageous if a PEMFC could operate on other fuels, preferably those that contain carbon (petrol, diesel, LPG, methanol). For fundamental technical reasons, a PEMFC cannot use these fuels at lower temperatures. Therefore, an ideal PEMFC would have to operate at a higher temperature (200-300˚C). Unfortunately, there is no membrane available that can tolerate such high temperatures.

The search for proton exchange membranes that can operate at higher temperatures has been ongoing for several years. Unfortunately, the use of purely organic materials is difficult due to the fundamental properties of membranes prepared from polymers. In this project, a completely novel proton-exchange membrane has been prepared from organic and inorganic building blocks. The combined properties of these compounds could enable the development of a high-temperature proton-exchange membrane fuel cell.

Project coordinator 
> KEMA, the Netherlands

Project partner 
> ECN, the Netherlands

Project details
> European Union/Senter Novem
> Duration: 2009 – ongoing