A performance and degradation study of Nafion 212 membrane for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

The operational characteristics of the Nafion® 212 membrane (N212) are investigated and compared to that of Nafion® 112 (N112), in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The consequences of the membranes’ degradation are also investigated, after accelerated aging experiments using Fenton's method. Studies were performed by single cell polarization and impedance measurements, as a function of the cell and gas humidification temperatures and the gases pressures. Polarization curves show that the cell with N212 presents higher performance than that with N112, when operating under air cathode. FTIR analyses indicated that the chemical structure of Nafion does not change after accelerated degradation tests for both membranes. In spite of this, significant differences were observed in the morphology, mainly for N212. The electrochemical studies confirmed that the degradation of the membranes leads to a reduction of the fuel cell performance by increasing the gas crossover, mainly H2. Results also show that the N212 membrane may be less durable than N112.