Perspective—The Next Decade of AEMFCs: Near-Term Targets to Accelerate Applied R&D

Abstract

Alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have advanced rapidly in recent years and now show improved potential to become a low-temperature fuel cell alternative to proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To date, performance and durability are still too low to meet the promised reductions in materials cost, especially demonstration of platinum group metal- and precious metal-free AEMFCs. U.S. Department of Energy technical milestones for the next ten years are laid out herein. These milestones focus on the major barriers to AEMFC viability, hastening economic competitiveness and application relevance. Standard test conditions will facilitate benchmarking of AEMFC catalysts and membranes.