Alkaline anion–exchange membranes (AAEM) for alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells (APEFC) were successfully prepared using electron beam irradiated poly(ethylene–co– tetrafluoroethylene) precursor films grafted with vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) monomer. The resulting chloromethyl groups were subsequently reacted with trimethylamine to form quaternary ammonium anion–exchange functional head–gro...

Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) find widespread applications as an electrolyte and/or electrode binder in fuel cells, electrodialysis stacks, flow and metal-air batteries, and electrolyzers. AEMs exhibit poor stability in alkaline media; their degradation is induced by the hydroxide ion, a potent nucleophile. We have used 2D NMR techniques to investigate polymer backbone stability (as opposed t...

We report a high-yield strategy for the synthesis of very small silver nanoclusters (2 to 5 silver atoms) formed from conventional silver salts and scaffolds as high-performance catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The work demonstrates that Ag NCs are excellent catalysts for ORR and show great potential in alkaline fuel cells.

development of efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (orr) is one of the most important issues for optimizing the performance of fuel cells and metal-air batteries. the introduction of nitrogen into carbon nanostructures has created new pathways for the development of non-precious electrocatalysts in fuel cells. in this work, nitrogen-doped graphene (ng) was synthesized by a ...

Palladium nanoparticles supported on carbon black powder (Vulcan XC-72) nanocomposite (Pd/C) are synthesized as the catalyst for the anodic oxidation of glucose for use in a direct glucose alkaline fuel cell (DGAFC). Characterization of the catalyst is carried out using physical and electrochemical methods. It is observed that Palladium nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed onto the carbon blac...

Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition of methane in the presence of ammonia. The resultant N-graphene was demonstrated to act as a metal-free electrode with a much better electrocatalytic activity, long-term operation stability, and tolerance to crossover effect than platinum for oxygen reduction via a four-electron pathway in alkaline fuel cells. To ...

The performance of an alkaline fuel cell is investigated using three different fuels, e g., methanol, ethanol and sodium borohydride. Pt/C/Ni was used as anode whereas Mn/C/Ni was used as standard (Electro-Chem-Technic, UK) cathode for all the fuels. Thus, the alkaline fuel cell is used for multi-fuel system. Fresh mixture of electrolyte, potassium hydroxide (5M), and fuel (2M) was fed to and w...

This article presents the first systematic study of the effect of Relative Humidity (RH) on the water content and hydroxide ion conductivity of quaternary ammonium-based Alkaline Anion-Exchange Membranes (AAEMs). These AAEMs have been developed specifically for application in alkaline membrane fuel cells, where conductivities of >0.01 S cm(-1) are mandatory. When fully hydrated, an ETFE-based r...

Tunable alkaline anion-exchange membranes based on QPMBV are synthesized using a bottom-up approach, miniemulsion copolymerization, which can incorporate functional groups into the copolymers with designated composition and high molecular weight. The mechanical and electrochemical properties of the obtained QPMBV membranes are tuned by varying the composition. It is found that the ion exchange ...