Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5147895 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2016 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Durability is one of the key issues in commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The main purpose of this study is to investigate the degradation mechanism of Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) based on PTFE/Nafion composite membrane in PEMFC through the MEA/Stack Durability Protocol developed by the Fuel Cell Technical Team (FCTT) of the Freedom CAR and Fuel Partnership. The accelerated life test lasted for 300Â h, with voltage decay rate of the MEA about 0.48Â mV/h at operating current density 100Â mA/cm2 being achieved. After the acceleration experiment, degradation mechanisms for the MEA based on PTFE/Nafion composite membrane were analyzed in detail by hydrogen-thermal experiment, SEM, TEM, EDS and Ion Chromatographic test. The experimental results show that pinhole formed at outlet position of the composite membrane leads to hydrogen crossover current density exceeding 21Â mA/cm2 at 210Â h, with Fâ and SO42â concentrations sharply increased around 200Â h in discharge water of fuel cell from IC results, therefore, membrane failure is the major factor in the failure of MEA. Moreover, the micro-structural damage in the MEA and Pt particles growing up along flow channel even appearing at membrane could be observed from SEM, TEM and EDS results, which play important role in the deterioration of performance and stability for PEMFC.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemistry
Electrochemistry
Authors
Cheng Wang, Jianbo Zhang, Shubo Wang, Sijia Hao, Jianqiu Li, Zongqiang Mao, Zhiming Mao, Minggao Ouyang, Zhixiang Liu,