(Source: helmholtz official website)
According to foreign media reports, researchers from the Brazilian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN), the Helmholtz Center for Materials and Energy Research (HZB) in Germany and the National Agricultural Research Institute (INRA) in Canada have developed a direct ethanol fuel cell New composite membrane.
The volumetric energy density of ethanol (6.7kWh/L) is more than 5 times that of hydrogen (1.3kWh/L), and it can be safely used for fuel cell power generation. For example, Nissan is studying the potential of ethanol-fueled solid oxide fuel cells. Brazil is rich in sugar cane, and ethanol produced from sugar cane can be used as a substitute for automobile fuel. Therefore, people here are more interested in ethanol fuel cells with better performance. In theory, the efficiency of ethanol fuel cells is 96%, but in the specific operation process, due to various reasons, its maximum power density can only reach 30%.
The group led by Dr. Bruno Matos of the Brazilian Institute of Nuclear Energy is working on a new composite membrane for direct ethanol fuel cells. The new customized polymer composite electrolyte material is a promising solution that is expected to replace the current leading polymer electrolytes, such as Nafion.
Matos and his team used a melt extrusion process to prepare Nafion and sulfonic acid functionalized titanate nanotube composite membranes for direct ethanol fuel cell testing. With the help of the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source at the HZB center, they were able to observe in detail how the nanoparticles in the Nafion matrix are distributed and how they help improve the proton conductivity.
The Matos team conducted a detailed analysis of the four different components of the Nafion composite film through the IRIS infrared beamline of BESSY II. Small-angle X-ray scattering experiments confirmed that there is a synergy between the titanium particles and the Nafion ion matrix. Using infrared spectroscopy, they observed that chemical bridges were formed between the sulfonic acid groups of the functionalized nanoparticles. In addition, by tracking the movement trajectory of protons along the ion clusters, they found that even if the concentration of nanoparticles is higher, the proton conductivity of the composite membrane will increase.
Dr. Ljiljana Puskar, a scientist at HZB, said: "This is a real surprise." As the number of nanoparticles increases and the conductivity decreases, this is one of the main obstacles hindering the development of high-performance composite materials. The higher the proton conductivity and the higher the charge carrier mobility, the higher the efficiency of the direct ethanol fuel cell. (Elisha)
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