Hydrogen crossover and internal short-circuit currents experimental characterization and modelling in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

• Hydrogen crossovers and the internal short-circuits in a PEMFC have been studied.
• Hydrogen crossover flux increases linearly with the hydrogen partial pressure.
• The membrane's permeation coefficient remains constant with pressure.
• Short-circuit resistance increases with cathodic pressure and drops with anodic one.
• A potential model between the short-circuit resistance and the pressure is proposed.

Open circuit losses encompass a set of phenomena that reduce PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) efficiency, especially at low current densities. Properly modelling these losses is crucial for obtaining PEMFC models that reproduce accurately the experimental behaviour of PEMFCs operating at low current densities. The open circuit losses can be disaggregated into three distinct contributions: mixed potential, hydrogen crossovers and internal short-circuits. The aim of this work is to obtain a model for the anodic and the cathodic pressure effects on the hydrogen crossovers and the internal short-circuits in a commercial PEMFC. In order to achieve this goal, the hydrogen crossovers and the internal short-circuit were measured experimentally on a commercial PEMFC by linear voltammetry. The measurements were performed at a given temperature and gas inlet humidification level, for different anodic and cathodic pressures.