κ-Carrageenan and Aluminum Oxide as a Potential Replacement for Industry-Standard Materials in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Fabrication

Severe depletion of conventional sources of energy forced modern economies to actively participate in a global transition to renewable energy. With today's modern technology, power, heat or mechanical energy can be produced by simply utilizing resources which can facilitate production of electricity. Energy converting devices such as fuel cells can perform and generate electricity using one-step electrochemical reactions. Fabrication of such technology uses materials which are of the highest quality and purity but are prohibitively expensive. To enable the Philippines to put up a fuel cell technology system to mitigate the dependence of the country on importation of energy sources as the demand continuously increase, the industry-based materials, Nafion^® and cerium (IV) oxide, CeO₂, were replaced by κ-carrageenan and aluminum oxide, Al₂O₃ as ion-exchange membrane and radical scavenger, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) was used to verify graphene oxide (GO) formation, digital microscope (Mic-D) for surface morphology, and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) meter for measuring cell potential. The fabricated proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) generated a maximum cell potential of 543.6 mV at an operating temperature of 27°C. Thus, the fabricated PEMFC from a cheap, renewable, and highly available material in the Philippines is a promising alternative to the expensive Nafion^®-based fuel cells.