Sustainable materials for fuel cell devices

With the rise of sustainable energy, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have gained great advancements. To improve the power density and service life of fuel cells, each component of PEMFCs needs to be optimized. Each section introduces one main component and its development tendency. Current mainstream catalyst is platinum (Pt)-based materials, and metal-free catalysts and metal-nitrogen-carbon catalysts are promising candidates. Proton exchange membranes can be divided into perfluorosulfonic acid-based and non-fluorinated polymer-based membrane in low-temperature fuel cells. In the meanwhile, polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based membranes are promising material for high-temperature applications. The aforementioned materials will be systematically analyzed in this chapter. Perspectives on gas diffusion layer, bipolar plate, current collector, and sealing materials will also be discussed.