Overcoming the Conductance versus Crossover Trade-off in State-of-the-Art Proton Exchange Fuel-Cell Membranes by Incorporating Atomically Thin Chemical Vapor Deposition Graphene.

ABSTRACT: Permeance-selectivity trade-offs are inherent to polymeric membranes. In fuel cells, thinner proton exchange membranes (PEMs) could enable higher proton conductance and increased power density with lower area-specific resistance (ASR), smaller ohmic losses, and lower ionomer cost. However, reducing thickness is accompanied by an increase in undesired species crossover harming performance and long-term efficiency. Here, we show that incorporating atomically thin monolayer graphene synthesized via scalable chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and tunable defect density into PEMs (Nafion, ∼5-25 μm thick) can allow for reduced H₂ crossover (∼34-78% of Nafion of a similar thickness) while maintaining adequate areal proton conductance for applications (>4 S cm^-2). In contrast to

SUBMITTER: Moehring NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11760178 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature