Issue 48, 2019

Mechanism of ion conductivity through polymer-stabilized CsH2PO4 nanoparticular layers from experiment and theory

Abstract

Electrodes are currently the primary performance-limiting component in low and intermediate temperature fuel cells. A proven method for improving electrode performance in solid acid fuel cells is to create ever finer nanostructures and thus increase the electrochemically-active surface area. However, this performance enhancement is limited by issues of long-term stability, as well as increasing both the electronic and ionic conduction pathways. Here, we combine a systematic experimental study with a computational model to quantify the effect of (1) the stabilizing polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone as well as (2) the porosity and electrode layer thickness on the average ionic conductivity of the solid acid electrolyte CsH2PO4 in a composite solid acid fuel cell electrode. With a multiscale simulation approach using a combined molecular dynamics and lattice Monte Carlo method, proton conduction through a porous electrode is simulated at mesoscopic timescales while retaining near-atomistic structured evolution. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is used to evaluate the porous electrodes obtained via spray drying. Both approaches reveal a similar and significant contribution of the porous electrolyte layer to the overall cell resistance. This indicates that geometrical parameters, as well as stabilizing materials may play an essential role when designing a high-performance solid acid fuel cell.

Graphical abstract: Mechanism of ion conductivity through polymer-stabilized CsH2PO4 nanoparticular layers from experiment and theory

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Apr 2019
Accepted
13 Nov 2019
First published
14 Nov 2019

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019,7, 27367-27376

Mechanism of ion conductivity through polymer-stabilized CsH2PO4 nanoparticular layers from experiment and theory

M. Wagner, C. Dreßler, F. P. Lohmann-Richters, K. Hanus, D. Sebastiani, A. Varga and B. Abel, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 27367 DOI: 10.1039/C9TA04275J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements