Electrolyte Additives for Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells

Electrochemical characteristics of a series of modified phosphoric acid electrolytes containing fluorinated car on compounds and silicone fluids as additives are presented. When used in phosphoric acid fuel cells, the modified electrolytes improve the performance due to the enhanced oxygen reduction rate. Among useful additives we found potassium perfluorohexanesulfonate (C6F13SO3K), potassium nonafluorobutanesulfonate (C4F9SO3K), perfluorotributylamine [(C4F9)3N], and polymethylsiloxanes [(-Si(CH3)2O-)n]. The wettability of the electrodes by the modified electrolytes also is discussed, as a fuel-cell performance with the modified electrolytes. Specific conductivity measurements of some of the modified phosphoric acid electrolytes are reported. At a given temperature, the conductivity of the C4F9SO3K-modified electrolyte decreases with an increasing amount of the additive; the conductivity of the remains at the same value as the conductivity of the pure phosphoric acid. At a given composition, the conductivity of any modified electrolyte increases with temperature. We conclude that the improved cell performance for modified electrolytes is not due to any increase in conductivity.