Graphene in electrocatalyst and proton conductiong membrane in fuel cell applications: An overview

This study elaborates the development and great attraction of graphene in fuel cell application. The main focus is to highlight the contribution of graphene based material in fuel cell application particularly used in two important part of fuel cell system that are electrocatalyst and polymer electrolyte membrane. This paper also introduces the graphene and its derivative such as graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) in terms of their special properties, advantages, disadvantages as well as the modification method. It also discusses the application and capability of graphene based material and CNT used in electrocatalyst material. Later it also highlights the application of graphene and its derivative as well as their achievement in fuel cell as proton conductor and efficient fuel blocker. Thus, it is bright future to see more development of graphene based material in fuel cell application. However, there are several challenges that can be big inhibitor of graphene and its derivative to be applied in various applications such as production volume limitation, cost, electrical properties, other material competition as well as health and safety issues. Finally, this study explains all the challenges and opportunity in commercialization.