The influence of impurities in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells performance

A low impact in the fuel cell performance was observed when three cycles of synthetic reformate containing methanol solution were performed. When the number of cycles was increased, the performance of HT-PEMFC decreases and irreversible degradation of performance was observed. The cycles with synthetic reformate increased the ohmic resistance and high frequency resistance associated with anodic processes, but decreased the intermediate frequency resistance associated with cathodic processes. Additionally, by increasing the number of cycles, the phosphoric acid content of Celtec® MEAs and the thickness of the membrane decreased.