University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln US Department of Energy Publications U.S. Department of Energy 2011 A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research Yun Wang The University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA Ken Chen Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, NM Jeffrey Mishler The University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA Sung Chan Cho The University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA Xavier Cordobes Adroher The University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdoepub Part of the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons Wang, Yun; Chen, Ken; Mishler, Jeffrey; Chan Cho, Sung; and Cordobes Adroher, Xavier, "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research" (2011). US Department of Energy Publications. 132. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdoepub/132 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the U.S. Department of Energy at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in US Department of Energy Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Applied Energy 88 (2011) 981–1007 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research ⇑ Yun Wang a, , Ken S. Chen b, Jeffrey Mishler a, Sung Chan Cho a, Xavier Cordobes Adroher a a Renewable Energy Resources Lab (RERL) and National Fuel Cell Research Center, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3975, USA b Engineering Sciences Center, Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, NM 87185-0836, USA article info abstract Article history: Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which convert the chemical energy stored in hydrogen Received 3 August 2010 fuel directly and efficiently to electrical energy with water as the only byproduct, have the potential to Received in revised form 24 September 2010 reduce our energy use, pollutant emissions, and dependence on fossil fuels. Great deal of efforts has been Accepted 24 September 2010 made in the past, particularly during the last couple of decades or so, to advance the PEM fuel cell tech- nology and fundamental research. Factors such as durability and cost still remain as the major barriers to fuel cell commercialization. In the past two years, more than 35% cost reduction has been achieved in fuel Keywords: cell fabrication, the current status of $61/kW (2009) for transportation fuel cell is still over 50% higher Polymer electrolyte fuel cells than the target of the US Department of Energy (DOE), i.e. $30/kW by 2015, in order to compete with Technology Application the conventional technology of internal-combustion engines. In addition, a lifetime of 2500 h (for trans- Fundamental portation PEM fuel cells) was achieved in 2009, yet still needs to be doubled to meet the DOE’s target, i.e. Review 5000 h. Breakthroughs are urgently needed to overcome these barriers. In this regard, fundamental stud- ies play an important and indeed critical role. Issues such as water and heat management, and new mate- rial development remain the focus of fuel-cell performance improvement and cost reduction. Previous reviews mostly focus on one aspect, either a specific fuel cell application or a particular area of fuel cell research. The objective of this review is three folds: (1) to present the latest status of PEM fuel cell tech- nology development and applications in the transportation, stationary, and portable/micro power gener- ation sectors through an overview of the state-of-the-art and most recent technical progress; (2) to describe the need for fundamental research in this field and fill the gap of addressing the role of funda- mental research in fuel cell technology; and (3) to outline major challenges in fuel cell technology devel- opment and the needs for fundamental research for the near future and prior to fuel cell commercialization. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . ...................................................................................................... 982 1.1. Applications of PEM fuel cell technology and its current status . ...................................................... 982 1.2. Commercialization barriers. ......................................................................... 983 1.3. The role of fundamental research . ......................................................................... 983 2. PEM fuel cell technology: applications and current status . ................................................................ 983 2.1. Transportation applications . ......................................................................... 984 2.1.1. Light-weight vehicles . .............................................................................. 984 2.1.2. Buses . .............................................................................................. 984 2.1.3. Other vehicles or propulsions .............................................................................. 985 2.2. Portable applications. ......................................................................................... 987 2.3. Stationary applications . ......................................................................................... 988 3. Needs on fundamental research . ................................................................................... 990 3.1. Membrane . ......................................................................................... 992 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 949 824 6004; fax: +1 949 824 8585. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Wang). 0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.09.030 982 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 981–1007 3.2. Catalyst layers . ............................................................................................... 994 3.3. Gas diffusion layers and micro-porous layers . ............................................................ 996 3.4. Gas flow channels, cooling channel, and bipolar plates . ............................................................ 999 3.5. GDL/GFC interface .............................................................................................. 1001 3.6. Stack. .............................................................................................. 1002 4. Summary and concluding remarks . ..................................................................... 1002 References . ........................................................................................................ 1003 1. Introduction catalyst layer directly adjacent to the electrolyte, as was done with GE fuel cell at the time. Considerable improvements were made Due to the growing concerns on the depletion of petroleum- from the early 1970s onward with the adoption of the fully fluori- based energy resources and climate change, fuel cell technologies nated NafionÒ membrane. However, research and development in have received much attention in recent years owing to their high PEMFCs did not receive much attention and funding from the fed- efficiencies and low emissions. Fuel cells, which are classified eral government, in particular the US Department of Energy (DOE), according to the electrolyte employed, are electrochemical devices and industry until a couple of decades ago or so when break- that directly convert chemical energy stored in fuels such as hydro- through methods for reducing the amount of platinum required gen to electrical energy. Its efficiency can reach as high as 60% in for PEMFCs were developed and subsequently improved by Los electrical energy conversion and overall 80% in co-generation of Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and others. Notably, Raistrick electrical and thermal energies with >90% reduction in major pol- of LANL came up with a catalyst-ink technique for fabricating the lutants [1]. Five categories of fuel cells have received major efforts electrodes [4]. This breakthrough method made it possible to in- of research: (1) polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells or crease the utilization of active catalyst and at the same time to re- PEMFCs (also called PEFCs), (2) solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), (3) duce the amount of precious platinum metal needed. Though many alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), (4) phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs), technical and associated fundamental breakthroughs have been and (5) molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs). PEM fuel cells are con- achieved during the last couple of decades, many challenges such structed using polymer electrolyte membranes (notably NafionÒ) as reducing cost and improving durability while maintaining per- as proton conductor and Platinum (Pt)-based materials as catalyst. formance remain prior to the commercialization of PEM fuel cells. Their noteworthy features include low operating temperature, high In the remaining of this section, the current status of PEM fuel power density, and easy scale-up, making PEM fuel cells a promis- cell technology and applications are first presented, follow by dis- ing candidate as the next generation power sources for transporta- cussions on commercialization barriers and the role of