Mechanically stable composite electrolyte for intermediate temperature fuel cell with improved proton conductivity and methods thereof
AssigneeUniversity of Houston System
InventorsAnima B. Bose, Wei Li
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of restoring the proton conductivity of a sintered pyrophosphate membrane of intermediate temperature fuel cells (IT-FCs) by introducing phosphoric acid into the sintered SnP2O7 membrane to react with the degraded SnP2O7 species and thus restore the membrane pyrophosphate and proton conductivity. Such cells operate with low external humidification, and the active area of the cells may be fabricated up to 100 cm2 in size.
Claims7
A method of restoring proton conductivity to a sintered pyrophosphate membrane, comprising:
- adding a phosphoric acid to the sintered pyrophosphate membrane, wherein said membrane comprises a pyrophosphate-decomposition product;
- reacting the phosphoric acid, and pyrophosphate-decomposition product to form a regenerated-pyrophosphate species;
- and
- restoring the proton conductivity of the sintered pyrophosphate membrane comprising the regenerated-pyrophosphate species, wherein the proton conductivity is at least equivalent to the proton conductivity of a non-sintered pyrophosphate membrane.
A method of making a restored sintered pyrophosphate membrane reacting H3PO4 and SnO2 in deionized water to form a paste;
- calcinating said paste to form an SnP2O7;
- dry ball-milling said SnP2O7 to form a powder;
- mixing said powder and deionized water, and milling to form a slurry;
- casting said slurry in a mold,
- sintering said mold;
- and forming a sintered pyrophosphate membrane wherein said membrane comprises a pyrophosphate-decomposition product;
- placing said sintered pyrophosphate membrane into H3PO4 and heating to form a restored pyrophosphate membrane, wherein said membrane comprises a proton conductivity at least equivalent to a pyrophosphate membrane that is non-sintered.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.