Fuel cell performance assessment for closed-loop renewable energy systems

Fuel cells and electrolysis are promising candidates for future energy production from renewable energy sources. Usually, polymer electrolyte fuel cell systems run on hydrogen and air, while the most of electrolysis systems vent out oxygen as unused by-product. Replacing air with pure oxygen, fuel cell electrochemical performance, durability and system efficiency can be significantly increased with a further overall system simplification and increased reliability. This work, which represents the initial step for pure H2/O2 polymer electrolyte fuel cell operation in closed-loop systems, focuses on performance validation of a single cell operating with pure H2/O2 under different relative humidity (RH) levels, reactants stoichiometry conditions and temperature. As a result of this study, the most convenient and appropriate operative conditions for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell stack integrated in a closed loop system were selected.

Graphical abstractAn investigation on the influence of reactant gases stoichiometry, relative humidity and cell temperature was carried out. A gases utilization of 1.2/1.5 for fuel and oxidant, respectively, was found to be an optimal compromise for closed-loop operation.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide