Regeneration of CO poisoned Pt black anode catalyst in PEMFC using break-in procedure and KMnO4 solution

In the present work, an experimental procedure is developed based on break-in procedure and use of dilute KMnO4 solution to regenerate the CO poisoned Pt black anode electro-catalyst of a PEMFC. To understand the effect of operating temperature on extent of CO poisoning and regeneration of CO poisoned Pt black anode electro-catalyst, PEMFC is operated at 30 °C, 50 °C and 70 °C. At lower cell operating temperature (30 °C), KMnO4 solution regenerates CO poisoned Pt black anode catalyst, whereas contribution of break-in procedure towards regeneration is negligible. At 50 °C and 70 °C, break-in procedure contributes towards recovering the initial performance i.e. 74.6% and 78.8% of the initial current density at 0.2 V respectively and rest is regenerated by use of dilute KMnO4 solution.