The application of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) in maritime transportation is currently in the spotlight due to stringent emissions regulations and the establishment of a carbon trading system. However, salt in the marine environment can accelerate the degradation of proton-exchange membranes (PEM), which are the core component of PEMFCs. In this study, the effect of the NaCl concentration and temperature on the degradation of Nafion, the benchmark PEMFC membrane, was analyzed ex situ by accelerated degradation using Fenton’s test. The membrane properties were studied by mass change, fluoride ion emission, FTIR spectroscopy, and tensile test. The results showed that the degradation of Nafion membranes increased with the increase in temperature and NaCl concentration. Further studies revealed that Nafion produces C=O bonds during the degradation process. Additionally, it was found that sodium ions replace hydrogen ions in degraded Nafion fragments based on analysis of the weight change, and the rate of substitution increases with increasing temperature. A better understanding of the degradation behavior of Nafion in salty environments will lead to the advanced manufacturing of PEM for applications of PEMFCs in maritime transportation.
The durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) remains challenging compared with other energy systems. Digital twins can help to understand and reduce the degradation of fuel cell performance and support model-based design. This paper explores the possibilities of PEMFC modelling using Siemens Simcenter STAR-CCM+ software. A general roadmap for creating PEMFC digital twins in STAR-CCM+ is presented. The goal is to create and validate a digital twin of a 20 W open cathode PEMFC stack. The simulation results are analysed in a stepwise manner.A basic mesh study is used combined with the evolution of the residuals in order to find a good mesh quality, which is crucial in achieving useful results. This method and a parametric analysis show that certain values defined in the literature significantly influence the simulation results, the intrinsic gas diffusion layer permeability is found to have the biggest impact. The outcome becomes unreliable if realistic values are used as they are outside the limits of the software. However, the simulations do converge when the standard parameter values of the software are used. In addition, the complexity of the geometry has a large influence on the stability and reliability of the simulation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.