Objectives • Demonstrate high performance desulfurizer, catalyst, micro-reactor and microcombustor/ microvaporizer concepts that will enable production of compact fuel processors for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells • Design, fabricate and evaluate a 1-kWe fuel-flexible fuel processor during the first 36 months (one of the fuels capable of being reformed will be EPA Phase II reformulat...

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) is a type of fuel cell being developed for transport applications as well as for stationary fuel cell applications and portable fuel cell applications. Recently, the research of PEMFC has been more focused on describing the characteristics and building models of fuel cells, which are important application but obviously not enough. This paper present...

Currently, Pt-M bimetallic alloy nanoparticles like PtMo, PtRu, PtW and PtNi have shown promise for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) applications, due to their high electrocatalytic activity and CO tolerance on pristine carbon supports. Meanwhile, our previous research has indicated that Pt nanoparticles are significantly stabilized on boron-doped carbon supports. In this work, we u...

The potential of hydrogen as a future energy carrier is only fully unleashed if fuel processors generating hydrogen of a suitable purity can be engineered. Selective methanation of CO can be used as a first step for cleaning up feed gas for e.g. proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells [1] where CO poisons the platinum electrodes and for removing oxygen containing compounds in hydrogen feeds u...

A photoassisted oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through I(-)/I3(-) redox couple was investigated for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell cathode reaction. The I(-)/I3(-)-based liquid cathode was used to replace conventional oxygen cathode, and its discharge product I(-) was regenerated to I3(-) by photocatalytic oxidation with the participation of oxygen. This new and innovative approach m...

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices which convert chemical energy of a reacting fuel directly into electricity with high efficiency and no pollution. Proton Exchange/ Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells are likely to be among one of the most promising energy sources for transportation, heating and power generation. Some of the key materials used in PEM fuel cells are catalysts, mem...

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) using conditional data analysis was applied to aqueous suspensions of palladium particles in the reformate water of palladium-based proton exchange membrane fuel cells. A significant amount of palladium was found in the water, indicating degradation of the fuel-cell cathode catalytic layers. The palladium particle-size detection limit was found to be ...

Governments and private investors are becoming aware of the problems derived from the energy dependency on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energies. In this context, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which use hydrogen as fuel, are gaining increasing attention as clean and efficient energy conversion devices for a broad range of applications, such as automotive, stationary combi...

Proton exchange membranes (PEM) for a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) have main drawbacks which are methanol permeability, reduced proton conductivity and the cost of the membrane. This paper reviews different polymeric materials such as fluorinated, non-fluorinated, acid-base complex, and composite membranes for DMFC. Currently, nonfluorinated membranes gain a lot of atte...