A Computational Study of Polymer Membrane Fuel Cells

Synopsis

Finding suitable alternatives to unsustainable energy sources is a pressing matter considering climate change. Hydrogen fuel cell technologies are a promising option due to their high efficiencies and energy densities. However, the traditional implementations of fuel cells have been plagued by scalability issues due to high costs of noble metals such as platinum. Anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) are being developed to mitigate this issue. Since AEMFCs use a hydroxide ion rather than a hydrogen ion as the charge carrier, cheaper metal catalysts such as nickel, cobalt, and silver can be used. These polymer membranes can be created in the laboratory and be tested using both computational and experimental techniques. I present a computational study of these polymer membrane fuel cell materials in order to better understand the physical properties responsible for the differences between candidate membranes.