PEM fuel cell short stack performances of silica doped nanocomposite membranes

•An air-cooled PEMFC short stack with nafion/silica nanocomposite membrane was designed and fabricated for net 100 W net power.•The introduction of silica on the membrane has positive effect of the stack working temperature.•Nafion/Silica nanocomposite membrane shows higher proton conductivity and water retention properties than nafion membrane.

In this study, an air-cooled Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) short stack with Nafion/Silica nanocomposite membrane was designed and fabricated for net 100 W net power output to improve the stack performance at low relative humidity conditions. Composite membrane was prepared by solution casting method. Gas Diffusion Electrodes (GDE's) were produced by ultrasonic spray coating technique. Short stack design was based on electrochemical data obtained at 0.60 V was 0.45 A/cm2 from performance tests of a single cell having the same membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) that had an active area of 100 cm2. The short stack was tested in the constant resistance load regime, in dead-end mode, with controlling temperature by air on-off control system. A maximum power of 117 W was obtained from the short stack.