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Physical degradation of MEA in PEM fuel cell by on/off operation under nitrogen atmosphere

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Abstract

The durability of PEMFCs is one of the most important issues for application in automotive vehicles with a repeated start-up and shut-down system. The understanding of degradation phenomena such as causes, mechanisms and influence of working condition is essential to improving the performance and lifetime of PEMFC. We conducted on/off cyclic operation in a single cell configuration with ultra purity nitrogen gas to investigate the physical degradation of membrane electrode assembly (MEA). After on/off cycle operation for 100,000 cycles under different humid condition, the characteristics of the MEAs were examined by in situ and ex situ analyses techniques. The physical degradation of MEA by on/off cycling led to a change in the membrane-electrode interfacial structure, which is mainly attributed to the loss of cell performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

    Dongho Seo, Sangsun Park, Yukwon Jeon, Sung-Won Choi & Yong-Gun Shul

  2. The Specialized Graduate School of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

    Yong-Gun Shul

Authors
  1. Dongho Seo
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  2. Sangsun Park
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  3. Yukwon Jeon
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  4. Sung-Won Choi
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  5. Yong-Gun Shul
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Correspondence to Yong-Gun Shul.

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Seo, D., Park, S., Jeon, Y. et al. Physical degradation of MEA in PEM fuel cell by on/off operation under nitrogen atmosphere. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 27, 104–109 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-009-0312-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-009-0312-6

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