Electrospun Nanofibers for Design and Fabrication of Electrocatalysts and Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel cells

In the past decades, in response to the energy needs of modern society and emerging ecological concerns, the pursuit of novel, low-cost, and environmentally friendly energy conversion and storage systems has raised significant interest. Among these systems, fuel cells have gained much attention for their high efficiency and high power density, with low greenhouse gas emission. As one of the most promising and versatile fabrication methods for one-dimensional mesostructured nanomaterials composed of organic, inorganic, metallic, or hybrid components prepared as randomly or orientedly arranged continuous nanofibrous mats with possibilities of ordered internal morphologies such as core-sheath, hollow, or porous fibers, or even multichanneled microtubes, electrospinning has been widely investigated to fabricate electrocatalysts and electrolyte materials applied in fuel cells because of their dimensional, directional, and compositional flexibility. In this chapter, the application of electrospun nanofibers for the specific design and fabrication of different components is reviewed in detail. Particular progresses with the use of electrospun nanofibers on improved fuel cell performance, such as power density, ionic conductivity, interfacial resistance, and chemical stability, as well as mechanical strength are emphasized, which, as we hope, can trigger further development and evolution of fuel cells as one potential energy conversion device and system. Zhan Lin and Yingfang Yao contributed equally to this chapter. Z. Lin • Y. Yao • X. Zhang ( ) Fiber and Polymer Science Program, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301, USA e-mail: [email protected] B. Ding and J. Yu (eds.), Electrospun Nanofibers for Energy and Environmental Applications, Nanostructure Science and Technology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-54160-5__2, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 41