Biosourced Antioxidants for Chemical Durability Enhancement of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane
Date
2024-01-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Advanced Functional Materials
Abstract
The chemical durability of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes is a topic of growing interest to meet Department of Energy (DOE) durability targets for heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) applications. State-of-the-art membranes like Nafion, rely on the use of cerium, heteropolyacids, and other inorganic additives to increase PFSA chemical durability. A less explored avenue for the oxidative stabilization of PFSA and hydrocarbon membranes is the use of organic antioxidants. No reversible organic antioxidant has been demonstrated to date which can enhance membrane lifetime by factors comparable to cerium. Here, ellagic acid (EA) is demonstrated as a promising radical scavenger for PFSA's. It is found that the incorporation of EA enhances the chemical durability of Nafion by 160%. EA, when incorporated with cerium as an electron donorenhances Nafion durability by at least 80% compared to a membrane incorporated with just cerium in DOE-defined durability tests. EA is found to be reversible in acidic conditions like those of fuel cells and its reversibility could be further enhanced by the use of suitable co-antioxidants.
Description
This article was originally published in Advanced Functional Materials. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202308856. © 2023 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Keywords
cerium, durability, fuel cells, heavy duty, organic antioxidants, radical scavengers
Citation
T. Agarwal, S. Adhikari, S. K. Babu, A. K. Prasad, S. G. Advani, R. L. Borup, Biosourced Antioxidants for Chemical Durability Enhancement of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 34, 2308856. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202308856