2D Materials for Electrically Driven Ion Transport and Energy Devices

Electrically driven ion transport is critical to many electrochemical technologies essential to decarbonization such as batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzers. These technologies, particularly fuel cells and electrolyzers, are still in their nascent stages and suffer from both membrane-related failures stemming from parasitic crossover as well as efficiency losses. 2D materials have been demonstrated to act as highly selective ionic conductors in previous work, but have yet to show sufficient performance, durability and scalability for commercial adoption. This talk will focus on 2D materials as optimal ion conductors for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and electrolyzers while balancing performance with selectivity. In our current work, we demonstrate the power of defect engineering strategies and scalable deposition strategies in to improve fuel cell durability and scalability with limited to no negative impact to performance. These findings highlight the potential of defect-engineered 2D materials to advance the performance and durability of electrochemical energy devices.