Yogeshwar Sahai
The Ohio State University, USA
Title: Materials chemistry in borohydride fuel cells development
Biography
Biography: Yogeshwar Sahai
Abstract
Chemical and electrochemical reactions are important in developing new and cost effective materials for fuel cell development. A chitosan-based chemical hydrogel membrane and catalyst binder were developed by the authors and used in alkaline Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells (DBFCs). The chitosan-based borohydride fuel cell gave more than 50 % higher power performance than the commercial Nafion-based one. The authors are the first to develop a chitosan membrane which resulted in much higher power density than the commercially used Nafion-based membranes. The chitosan-based catalyst binder also gave about 20% higher power density values than Nafion as catalyst binder. This chitosan-based membrane has also been successful in alkaline ethanol fuel cells. The estimated cost of chitosan-based membrane is less than 10% of the cost of Nafion. For borohydride electro-oxidation, an effective anode consisting of Ni-based composite electrocatalysts loaded on Ni foam substrate was developed and employed. The use of Ni-based catalyst reduces the cost of fuel cell without compromising its performance. Thin film electrode was prepared by electroless plating and physical vapor deposition. A nanoscale thin film anode delivered comparable power performance to an ink pasted electrode with a much higher catalyst loading. Chemical and electrochemical aspects of these materials in preparing polymeric membrane and electrode and their performance results will be presented in this paper. The effect of these materials in reducing the cost of fuel cells will be also presented in this paper.