Stable and High-performance Flow H₂-O₂ Fuel Cells with Coupled Acidic Oxygen Reduction and Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reactions.

Abstract

Conventional H₂-O₂ fuel cells suffer from the low output voltage, insufficient durability, and high-cost catalysts (e.g., noble metals). Herein, this work reports a conceptually new coupled flow fuel cell (CF-FC) by coupling asymmetric electrolytes for acidic oxygen reduction reaction and alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction. By introducing an electrochemical neutralization energy, the newly-developed CF-FCs possess a significantly increased theoretical open-circuit voltage. Specifically, a CF-FC based on a typical transition metal single-atom Fe-N-C cathode catalyst demonstrates a high electricity output up to 1.81 V and durability with an ultrahigh retention of 91% over 110 h, far superior to the conventional fuel cells (usually, < 1.0 V, < 50% retention over 20 h). The output performance can even be significantly enhanced easily by connecting multiple CF-FCs into the parallel, series, or combined parallel-series connections at a fractional cost of that for the conventional H₂-O₂ fuel cells, showing great potential for large-scale practical applications. Thus, this study provides a platform to transform conventional fuel cell technology through the rational design and development of advanced energy conversion and storage devices by coupling different electrocatalytic reactions.