Fundamental Insight into Phenyl-Free Polynorbornene Ionomers Enables High Performance Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) are seen as a possible successor to proton exchange membrane fuel cell technologies. A major motivation behind AEMFC development is the potential to use less costly materials, such as non-platinum group metal catalysts, thus reducing the stack cost. Anion exchange ionomers (AEIs) are polymers that facilitate ion transport in the catalyst layer play and a critical role in the performance of fuel cells. In fact, cell performance is profoundly affected by fundamental interactions between the catalyst surface and the AEI. Two such interactions are of particular importance: phenyl adsorption on hydrogen oxidation catalysts and electrochemical oxidation of phenyl moieties on oxygen evolution catalysts. Both are detrimental to an alkaline device’s performance and durability. We compared the adsorption energy of phenyl-containing ionomers for implementing phenyl-free ionomers. Density functional theory calculations indicated that the norbornane fragment has minimal adsorption energy on Pt(111) due to the absence of aromatic electrons. A soluble quaternized polynorbornene ionomer was prepared by vinyl addition polymerization. This ionomer enables high performance in fuel cells, (peak power density > 2 W cm -2 ), proving the advantage of the phenyl-free structure. This study establishes the phenyl adsorption energy-electrode performance relationship, highlighting the importance of material interactions between the catalysts and ionomers.