Abstract
This paper reports a high efficient phosphoric acid fuel cell by employing a micro/nano composite proton exchange membrane incorporating glass microfiber (GMF) sealed by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nano-porous film. This multilayer membrane not only possesses both thermal and chemical stability at phosphoric acid fuel cell working temperature at 150∼220°C but also is cost effective. As a result, the inclusion of the high porosity and proton conductivity from glass microfiber and the prevention of phosphoric acid leakage from PTEF nano film can be achieved at the same time.The composite membrane maximum proton conductivity achieves 0.71 S/cm at 150 °C from AC impedance analysis, much higher than common phosphoric acid porous membranes For single cell test, The GMF fuel cell provides a 63.6mW/cm2 power density at 200mA/cm2 current density while GMF plus methanol treated PTFE (GMF+mPTFE) provides 59.2mW/cm2 power density at 160mA/cm2 current density for hydrogen and oxygen supply at 150 °C. When we change the electrodes that are more suited for phosphoric acid fuel cell, the GMF+mPTFE single cell gets higher performance which achieve 296mW/cm2 power density at 900mA/cm2 current density for hydrogen and oxygen supply at 150 °C.