Polymeric Electrolytes in Fuel Cells: A Sustainable Approach

Concerns are increasing over the thoughtless uses of fossil fuels in transport and electricity generation due to their harmful health and environmental impacts. As an alternative, in recent years, renewable energy has received an unprecedented worldwide interest. One of the most important points is the search for sustainable electrochemical energy generation and storage devices. The environmental impact of the use of such devices, in sectors such as transport, is indisputable. The use of vehicles that contain fuel cells, compared to those that use fossil fuels, drastically reduces the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. In this context, fuel cells are electrochemical devices with a low carbon footprint. However, fuel cell components are based on scarce and expensive materials. Concretely, in the hydrogen fuel cells, two of the main components, platinum as the electrode and Nafion® as the electrolyte, respectively, are high-priced and difficult to obtain. This limits the industry implementation of fuel cell technology. In this chapter, conventional component recovery methods are summarized showing their limitations. Furthermore, promising approaches for component recovery are discussed. These approaches pave the way to new, and more eco-friendly ways for a circular economy.