Ionomer Significance in Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cell to Achieve High Power with a Quarternized Poly(terphenylene) Membrane

Direct alkaline fuel cells have recently shown a rapid surge in performance due to improvements to the anion exchange membrane (AEM) and electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Recently, much focus has been in the area of improving the anion exchange ionomer (AEI), catalyst and AEM interface, mostly centered on the H2/O2 fuel cell. The use of liquids in fuel cells can offer some advantages compared to the H2/O2 fuel cell; thus, it is important to study the interaction between the AEI, catalyst and AEM in direct oxidation liquid fuel cells. This work reports the activity of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in half-cell experiments with varying AEIs and the use of a poly(terphenylene) (TPN) membrane in an alkaline direct methanol fuel cell (ADMFC). The results show that changing the cation structures of AEIs has a significant role in MOR on the PtRu/C catalyst. Moreover, with the use of a TPN membrane and the prepared anode containing AEIs, high power densities are achieved with <1 mgPtRu/cm2 in the catalyst layer.