Performance and instabilities of proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Abstract

International audiencePerformance of proton exchange fuel cells with different membrane and electrode assembly (MEA) is studied. It is shown that MEA fabricated with catalyst plasma pulverization technology has the maximum performance. Some instabilities in the cell performance, observed with time, are probably due to periodic cathode flooding

Stress and plastic deformation of MEA in fuel cells

“…The influence of the torque on the fuel cell performance has been studied in [4,5]. The maximal performance in these studies has been obtained with the compression moment of about 9 Nm.…”

“…The function of the bolts deals with the necessity to assure the tightness and the electrical conductivity of contact elements. The contact pressure is one of the parameters which determine the performance of fuel cells [4,5]. Additional mechanical stresses arise during fuel cell running, because PEMFC consists of the materials with different thermal expansion and swelling coefficients.…”

Thermo-electrical instabilities arising in proton exchange membrane of fuel cell

“…These requirements are mostly fulfilled today by Nafion membrane operating in the range below 100°C. The performance of PEM FC increases significantly with the temperature [16,17]. Nevertheless, the temperature excess can damage Nafion membrane.…”

Thermo-mechanical phenomena in PEM fuel cells

“…Optimization of running parameters is a delicate problem, which has been studied, for example, in References [16,17]. The main difficulty is the correct water and heat management.…”