Improved performance of fuel cell with proton-conducting glass membrane

Functionalized mesoporous structured inorganic materials as high temperature proton exchange membranes for fuel cells

“…129 The proton was injected into sodium conductive oxide glass by electrochemical oxidation of hydrogen at the Pd anode and the maximum proton conductivity is 8 Â 10 À4 S cm À1 at 300 C. The maximum power density of a cell based on the proton injected tungsten phosphate glass membrane is 1.3 mW cm À2 at 300 C. Decreasing the membrane thickness as well as the interface resistance is essential to enhance the cell power output of silica glass based membranes. Di et al 130 introduced a thin Naon layer to a phosphosilicate glass membrane and the addition of a thin Naon layer reduced the glass membrane thickness to 500 mm, achieving a peak power density of 207 mW cm À2 at 70 C in H 2 /O 2 . However, the operation temperature of such MEAs would be limited by the thermal stability of the inserted Naon layer.…”