Recent Advances in Electrocatalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells and Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells

Fei Xiao; Yu-Cheng Wang; Zhi-Peng Wu; Guangyu Chen; Fei Yang; Shangqian Zhu; Kumar Siddharth; Zhijie Kong; Aolin Lu; Jin-Cheng Li; Chuan-Jian Zhong; Zhi-You Zhou; Minhua Shao

doi:10.1002/adma.202006292

Recent Advances in Electrocatalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells and Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells

Adv Mater. 2021 Dec;33(50):e2006292. doi: 10.1002/adma.202006292. Epub 2021 Mar 21.

Authors

Fei Xiao¹, Yu-Cheng Wang², Zhi-Peng Wu³, Guangyu Chen^{1

4}, Fei Yang¹, Shangqian Zhu¹, Kumar Siddharth¹, Zhijie Kong³, Aolin Lu³, Jin-Cheng Li⁴, Chuan-Jian Zhong³, Zhi-You Zhou², Minhua Shao^{1

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA.
⁴ Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, 511458, China.
⁵ Energy Institute, and Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
⁶ HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute, No. 9 Yuexing 1st RD, South Area, Hi-tech Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen, 518057, China.

PMID: 33749011
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202006292

Abstract

The rapid progress of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells (AMFCs) has boosted the hydrogen economy concept via diverse energy applications in the past decades. For a holistic understanding of the development status of PEMFCs and AMFCs, recent advancements in electrocatalyst design and catalyst layer optimization, along with cell performance in terms of activity and durability in PEMFCs and AMFCs, are summarized here. The activity, stability, and fuel cell performance of different types of electrocatalysts for both oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction are discussed and compared. Research directions on the further development of active, stable, and low-cost electrocatalysts to meet the ultimate commercialization of PEMFCs and AMFCs are also discussed.

Keywords: anion exchange membrane fuel cells; fuel cell electrocatalysts; hydrogen oxidation reactions; nonprecious metal electrocatalysts; oxygen reduction reactions.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding