High performance direct organic fuel cell using the acetone/isopropanol liquid organic hydrogen carrier system

• Main Authors: Pascal Hauenstein, Dominik Seeberger, Peter Wasserscheid, Simon Thiele
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-09-01
• Series: Electrochemistry Communications
• Subjects: Direct isopropanol fuel cells; LOHC; Organic fuel cells; Backpressure; Temperature
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388248120301375
• ISSN: 1388-2481

Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) systems offer a very interesting option for hydrogen storage in the existing infrastructure for common fuels. Technically most attractive is the direct use of LOHC-bound hydrogen in a low-temperature PEM fuel cell. Here, the isopropanol/acetone LOHC system is suggested to produce electricity from a condensable liquid without CO2 emissions. A high-performance direct isopropanol fuel cell using a vaporizer and a commercial fuel cell test system is demonstrated. For the first time backpressure is used to enhance the performance. The self-fabricated GDEs combined with a Nafion composite membrane achieved a power density of 203 mW cm−2 for Isopropanol/Air operation at 300 kPa absolute and 85 °C. By increasing the operation temperature to 100 °C a peak power density of 254 mW cm−2 is achieved, exceeding the highest reported values for isopropanol fuel cells operated with air by over 80%. The observed increase in performance can be attributed to the higher reaction rate of the electrooxidation of isopropanol at the anode side during pressurized conditions and to the reduced acetone-poisoning of the Pt-Ru catalyst at elevated temperatures.