Variation of Membrane Electrode Assembly Catalyst Layer in Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell

Abstract

A unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) is a device that may function reversibly as either a fuel cell (FC) or water electrolysis (WE). An important component of this device is the Membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Therefore, this study aimed to compare the performance outcomes of MEA using electrodes with single and three catalyst layers. This study measured Electrochemical Surface Area (ECSA), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray Diffraction analysis (XRD), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). Furthermore, the round-trip efficiency (RTE) of the MEA, as well as the performance in FC and WE mode, was measured. In comparison, The ECSA values of Pt-Ru/C and Pt/C with three catalyst layers were higher than the single catalyst layer. This result was supported by electrode characterization data for XRD and XRF. The respective electrical conductivity values of Pt-Ru/C and Pt/C with three catalyst layers are also higher than the single catalyst layer, and the performance of URFC using MEA with three catalyst layers has the highest value of RTE among the MEA performances of URFC, which is 100% at a current density of 4 mA·cm^-2.

Keywords

Unitized regenerative fuel cell / Round trip efficiency / Pt-Ru/C / Membrane electrode assembly / Electrochemical surface area

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Center of Research Excellent in Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, for providing the facilities to do the research work and the financial support from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia under grant HICOE-2023-005.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Author Contributions

Yollanda Nurcholifah: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Dedi Rohendi: Writing - review & editing. Edy Herianto Majlan: Conceptualization of URFC. Nirwan Syarif: Investigation, Formal analysis. Addy Rachmat: Investigation, Formal analysis. Dwi Hawa Yulianti: Formal analysis. Nyimas Febrika S: Formal analysis.

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