Bending-durable membrane-electrode assembly using metal nanowires for bendable polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

We herein report a simple and effective strategy to fabricate the bending-durable membrane-electrode assembly for bendable polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) by simply coating conventional carbon papers with manually fabricated silver nanowires (Ag NWs). Due to the high stretchability...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy (Oxford) 2019-04, Vol.172, p.874-880
Main Authors: Kang, Yun Sik, Won, Phillip, Ko, Seung Hwan, Park, Taehyun, Yoo, Sung Jong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ag nanowire
Assembly
Bendable fuel cell
Carbon
Carbon fibers
Charge transfer
Coatings
Electrical conductivity
Electrical resistivity
Electrochemistry
Electrodes
Electrolytes
Electrolytic cells
Fibers
Fuel cells
Fuel technology
Gas diffusion layer
Membrane-electrode assembly
Nanotechnology
Nanowires
Polymers
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Silver
Spray coating
Stretchability
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Summary:We herein report a simple and effective strategy to fabricate the bending-durable membrane-electrode assembly for bendable polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) by simply coating conventional carbon papers with manually fabricated silver nanowires (Ag NWs). Due to the high stretchability and flexibility of Ag NWs, we expect that the introduction of Ag NWs to carbon fibers would relieve the increase of ohmic and charge transfer resistances derived from the disconnections between each carbon fiber and the resulting decrease of electrical conductivity by repeatedly bending the bendable PEMFCs. We find that by using Ag NWs as an added component to carbon paper, the performance of Ag NWs-applied PEMFC can be maintained after repetitive bending. Carbon papers with the Ag NWs also show higher performance than the PEMFC without Ag NWs in the previous research. From the electrochemical impedance spectra of Ag NWs-coated PEMFC, it is clearly demonstrated that the coated Ag NWs effectively connect between carbon fibers and thereby play a role as a good buffer medium when carbon fibers are disconnected by mechanical bending. •Bending-durable polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell was realized.•Gas-diffusion layer was simply coated with percolated silver nanowires.•Fuel cell with silver nanowires showed high durability after repetitive bending.•Silver nanowires maintained electric connection between disconnected carbon fibers.
ISSN:0360-5442
1873-6785
DOI:10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.123