Development of an alkaline anion exchange membrane direct ethylene glycol fuel cell stack

KOH-doped PBI and quaternary amine alkaline anion exchange membranes were tested with commercial and homemade gas diffusion electrodes employing a non-noble metal catalyst. Tests were performed using either ethanol or ethylene glycol as fuel. The highest initial performance values were achieved with a quaternary amine anion exchange membrane fuel cell using ethylene glycol as fuel. A high conversion to CO 2 was also achieved using ethylene glycol. Some important differences were found in the performance degradation between cells using quaternary amine and KOH doped PBI membranes. A short stack with 5 cells was built using quaternary-amine-membrane-based membrane electrode assemblies. Initial stack performance measurements are reported.