Modeling the oscillative behavior and carbon monoxide removal by current pulsing technique in H2/CO mixtures for Pt catalyst layer

•1-D transient numerical model is built for high concentration CO in Pt catalyst.•Potential and species coverages are seen to oscillate along the catalyst layer.•Oscillations are caused by the adsorbed hydroxyl molecules and species diffusion.•Current pulsing is proposed for the mitigation of 10,000 ppm CO contamination.•92% of adsorbed CO can be removed from the Pt sites with current pulsing.

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and a mitigation method of high-level CO in a platinum (Pt) catalyst layer using hydrogen (H2)/CO mixture as the inlet fuel. Two separate levels of poisoning, 1000 and 10,000 ppm CO at the anode fuel, are considered and investigated in detail. For this purpose, a one-dimensional transient model is developed including the diffusion of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the conservation of adsorbed species, and ionic and electronic charges. As a result of CO poisoning, oscillations in overpotential and coverage of adsorbed species are observed for 1000 ppm CO level, while the similar situation is not detected for 10,000 ppm CO. Hence, the behavior of oscillations throughout the catalyst layer thickness, and the reasons are explored for the lower concentration case. For 10,000 ppm CO, a mitigation technique, in which current density is pulsed from 0.1 to 2.5 A/cm2 for a period of time, is performed in order to remove the adsorbed CO from the Pt sites. It is concluded that up to 92% of CO coverage within the catalyst layer can be removed, and 70% of the catalyst layer length is determined to be completely CO-free following the application of current pulsing.