Impact of carbon support corrosion on performance losses in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Abstract: Corrosion of the carbon support leads to a severe decay in the performance of PEM fuel cells, mainly due to an increase in the oxygen transport resistance. To investigate the effect of degradation on oxygen transport, we cycled MEAs between 1−1.5 V and analyzed the electrode structure with FIB-SEM tomography at various ageing states. The tomography results show that the electrode structure changes over 1000 cycles in terms of thickness (7.8 to 6.5 μm), porosity (44 to 38%) and diffusivity (9 to 8⋅105 m2s−1). Limiting current measurements in the wet (hydrogen/air) and dry state (hydrogen pumping) allowed the pressure dependent and pressure independent mass transport resistances to be distinguished and to quantify the impact of product water. The pressure independent resistance increased from 24 to 41 sm−1. Considering the marginal contribution of the catalyst pore space resistance (3 to 4 sm−1) it is concluded that the largest portion of the increase (50%) is caused by an increased local mass transport resistance. This is due to a decrease of the electrode roughness factor (282 to 169). The limiting current under wet conditions shows that another 44% could stem from a change in the wetting behavior, while 6% remains unexplained

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Journal of The Electrochemical Society. - 166, 13 (2019) , F956-F962, ISSN: 1945-7111

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Elektrotechnik, Elektronik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2020
• Creator: Hegge, Friedemann ; Sharman, Jonathan ; Moroni, Riko ; Thiele, Simon ; Zengerle, Roland ; Breitwieser, Matthias ; Vierrath, Severin

Further information

• DOI: 10.1149/2.0611913jes
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-1540633
• Rights: Kein Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:44 PM CET