Optimizing interlayer thickness for enhanced performance and chemical durability in sandwich-structured PEM fuel cells

Zulfi Al Rasyid Gautama; I. Yang; Norihiro Fukaya; Mustafa Ercelik; Mohammed S. Ismail; Stephen Matthew Lyth; Kazunari Sasaki; Masamichi Nishihara

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2025.238654

Optimizing interlayer thickness for enhanced performance and chemical durability in sandwich-structured PEM fuel cells

Zulfi Al Rasyid Gautama
, I. Yang
, Norihiro Fukaya
, Mustafa Ercelik
, Mohammed S. Ismail
, Stephen Matthew Lyth
, Kazunari Sasaki
, Masamichi Nishihara^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for clean energy conversion, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the trade-off between high performance and long-term chemical durability. Here, we report an engineered multilayer PEM that sandwiches a gas barrier interlayer between cast Nafion outer layers. A blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid) (PVA/PVS) is used as the interlayer material, designed to suppress gas crossover and mitigate chemical attack without sacrificing ionic conductivity. The optimized membrane (designated PVA-100) has an interlayer loading of 100 μg/cm²and achieves power density equivalent to pristine Nafion at 0.6 V. Crucially, under accelerated stress testing, this membrane exhibits 1.8x higher chemical durability compared with a conventional membrane, maintaining superior voltage stability and superior power output retention at 0.6 V. These findings establish interlayer engineering as a scalable and effective strategy to overcome the durability–performance trade-off in PEM fuel cells.

Original language	English
Article number	238654
Journal	Journal of Power Sources
Volume	661
Early online date	25 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2025.238654
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2026

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI [Grant Number JP23K04419], and JST-MIRAI (JPMJSP2136), and an RSC Researcher Collaboration Grant (C23-1081885414). The authors also acknowledge the support provided by the EPSRC through the research grant (EP/Y003543/1). We received partial support from Mr. Zen Jikaku for figure preparation.

Keywords

Chemical durability
Gas crossover
Gas permeability
Membrane degradation
Polymer electrolyte membrane

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title = "Optimizing interlayer thickness for enhanced performance and chemical durability in sandwich-structured PEM fuel cells",

abstract = "Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for clean energy conversion, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the trade-off between high performance and long-term chemical durability. Here, we report an engineered multilayer PEM that sandwiches a gas barrier interlayer between cast Nafion outer layers. A blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid) (PVA/PVS) is used as the interlayer material, designed to suppress gas crossover and mitigate chemical attack without sacrificing ionic conductivity. The optimized membrane (designated PVA-100) has an interlayer loading of 100 μg/cm2and achieves power density equivalent to pristine Nafion at 0.6 V. Crucially, under accelerated stress testing, this membrane exhibits 1.8x higher chemical durability compared with a conventional membrane, maintaining superior voltage stability and superior power output retention at 0.6 V. These findings establish interlayer engineering as a scalable and effective strategy to overcome the durability–performance trade-off in PEM fuel cells.",

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AU - Gautama, Zulfi Al Rasyid

AU - Yang, I.

AU - Fukaya, Norihiro

AU - Ercelik, Mustafa

AU - Ismail, Mohammed S.

AU - Lyth, Stephen Matthew

AU - Sasaki, Kazunari

AU - Nishihara, Masamichi

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N2 - Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for clean energy conversion, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the trade-off between high performance and long-term chemical durability. Here, we report an engineered multilayer PEM that sandwiches a gas barrier interlayer between cast Nafion outer layers. A blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid) (PVA/PVS) is used as the interlayer material, designed to suppress gas crossover and mitigate chemical attack without sacrificing ionic conductivity. The optimized membrane (designated PVA-100) has an interlayer loading of 100 μg/cm2and achieves power density equivalent to pristine Nafion at 0.6 V. Crucially, under accelerated stress testing, this membrane exhibits 1.8x higher chemical durability compared with a conventional membrane, maintaining superior voltage stability and superior power output retention at 0.6 V. These findings establish interlayer engineering as a scalable and effective strategy to overcome the durability–performance trade-off in PEM fuel cells.

AB - Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for clean energy conversion, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the trade-off between high performance and long-term chemical durability. Here, we report an engineered multilayer PEM that sandwiches a gas barrier interlayer between cast Nafion outer layers. A blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid) (PVA/PVS) is used as the interlayer material, designed to suppress gas crossover and mitigate chemical attack without sacrificing ionic conductivity. The optimized membrane (designated PVA-100) has an interlayer loading of 100 μg/cm2and achieves power density equivalent to pristine Nafion at 0.6 V. Crucially, under accelerated stress testing, this membrane exhibits 1.8x higher chemical durability compared with a conventional membrane, maintaining superior voltage stability and superior power output retention at 0.6 V. These findings establish interlayer engineering as a scalable and effective strategy to overcome the durability–performance trade-off in PEM fuel cells.

KW - Chemical durability

KW - Gas crossover

KW - Gas permeability

KW - Membrane degradation

KW - Polymer electrolyte membrane

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M3 - Article

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JO - Journal of Power Sources

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M1 - 238654

ER -

Optimizing interlayer thickness for enhanced performance and chemical durability in sandwich-structured PEM fuel cells

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Keywords

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