Poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel membrane as electrolyte for direct borohydride fuel cells

Choudhury, NA and Prashant, SK and Pitchumani, S and Sridhar, P and Shukla, AK (2009) Poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel membrane as electrolyte for direct borohydride fuel cells. In: Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences - Chemical Sciences, 121 (5). pp. 647-654.

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Abstract

A direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) employing a poly (vinyl alcohol)hydrogel membrane electrolyte (PHME) is reported. The DBFC employs an AB(5) Misch metal alloy as anode and a goldplated stainless steel mesh as cathode in conjunction with aqueous alkaline solution of sodium borohydride as fuel and aqueous acidified solution of hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. Room temperature performances of the PHME-based DBFC in respect of peak power outputs; ex-situ cross-over of oxidant, fuel,anolyte and catholyte across the membrane electrolytes; utilization efficiencies of fuel and oxidant, as also cell performance durability are compared with a similar DBFC employing a NafionA (R)-117 membrane electrolyte (NME). Peak power densities of similar to 30 and similar to 40 mW cm(-2) are observed for the DBFCs with PHME and NME, respectively. The crossover of NaBH4 across both the membranes has been found to be very low. The utilization efficiencies of NaBH4 and H2O2 are found to be similar to 24 and similar to 59%, respectively for the PHME-based DBFC; similar to 18 and similar to 62%, respectively for the NME-based DBFC. The PHME and NME-based DBFCs exhibit operational cell potentials of similar to 1 center dot 2 and similar to 1 center dot 4 V, respectively at a load current density of 10 mA cm(-2) for similar to 100 h.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences - Chemical Sciences
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Keywords:	Poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel;Nafion (R)-117 membrane;cross over;utilization efficiency;direct borohydride fuel cell;sodium. borohydride; hydrogen peroxide
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2010 07:21
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:53
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/25149

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