Graphene Oxide Fuel Cell

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) exhibits relatively high proton conduction even at low relative humidity (RH) and temperatures. Thus, multi-layered GO film (GO paper) is a promising electrolyte in various cells and batteries. We report the in-plane and through-plane proton conductivities of GO paper at low RH and room temperature. The conductivities were 10−5-10−4 S/cm at RH of 10–20%. We examined the performance of a graphene oxide fuel cell (GOFC) with GO paper as the electrolyte at low RH (<20%) and room temperature. We demonstrated that a simple membrane electrode assembly (MEA) based on Pt/GO/Pt system functioned as a H2/O2 fuel cell. The GOFC with Pt/C electrodes afforded better fuel cell performance than a MEA composed of Pt/C electrodes and Nafion electrolyte. GO paper composed of nano-sized GO (nanoGO) flakes enhanced the performance of the GOFC, particularly the current density. Furthermore, a composite of Fe phthalocyanine (PcFe) /reduced GO (rGO)/TiO2 could act as the Pt-free oxygen electrode in GOFC, although the fuel cell performance should be improved for practical applications. Our study suggests that a low cost GOFC without a Nafion electrolyte and noble metal electrodes could be fabricated in the near future.