Fuel Cell Using the Protic Ionic Liquid and Rotator Phase Solid Electrolyte Principles

Abstract

This report contains three sections (a)-(c) in which we report progress of the last year as follows. (a) The characterization of protic ionic liquids involving nitrogenic bases, by the state of the proton, as revealed by the N-H proton chemical shift, has been carried out and we show how this measure can be used to classify strong and superacids in a clear-cut manner. (b) The assembly and testing of fuel cells using derivatized siloxane membranes. Here we (i) take the polyanionic and polycationic siloxane membranes that we developed in the previous phase, and now use them in sandwich-type cells to obtain working fuel cells, one class of which has no mobile proton carriers hence must serve as a "dry" proton membrane fuel cell. We then (ii) assemble and test these same membranes is states that are plasticized with protic ionic liquids. This class of fuel cell has much lower internal resistance so has higher power output, at the expense of containing a "leachable" component. Finally (iii) we test membranes in which the siloxane backbones replaced by polyhydroxy cellulose membranes and loaded with ionic liquids. Polydroxycellulose membranes have been tested as hosts for imbibed ionic liquid electrolytes and found to provide quite good fuel cell performance. Finally (c) we have studied fluorinated ionic electrolytes, and fuel cells based on them, obtaining a striking result, in which the new system significantly outperforming phosphoric acid in the same cell configuration. Based on the results from part (b) of this study we now know how to proceed further in this direction. The challenge will be to provide the appropriate host for the ionic liquid.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 15, 2008
Accession Number
ADA520641

Entities

People

  • C. A. Angell
  • Dominic Gervasio

Organizations

  • Arizona State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Acids
  • Amines
  • Cells
  • Chemical Compounds
  • Chemical Shifts
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Electrolytes
  • Energy
  • Fuel Cells
  • Ionic Liquids
  • Liquids
  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Phosphoric Acids
  • Physical Properties
  • Resonance

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Rocket Propulsion.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology