Ozonated Monolayer Graphene for Extended Performance and Durability in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.

Kutagulla, Shanmukh; Carmichael, Patrick; Coupin, Matthew; Mutyala, Devi; Ignacio, Nicholas; Le, Nam Hoang; Caldino Bohn, Isabel Terry; Kim, Ji-Won et al. · ACS Nano · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

In the landscape of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), there is a strong need for durable, low hydrogen crossover membranes that retain high current output and proton conductivity during operation. This study presents the use of UV-Ozone induced defects in graphene to eliminate the proton conductivity penalty commonly associated with traditional crossover mitigation strategies. We report a defect engineered graphene material that demonstrates an increase in hydrogen/proton selectivity of 27%, a decrease in H<sub>2</sub> crossover of 24%, with limited to no impact on current output. Furthermore, we demonstrate a membrane that is 39% more durable than state of the art GORE Select membranes and shows no loss in performance after a 100 h accelerated stress test (AST). This study illustrates the viability of 2D material membranes to sieve between H<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> in industrial testing conditions and serve as highly scalable and durable fuel cell membranes that represent a significant upgrade over current state of the art membranes for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and clean energy generation.