Benjamin P. Pearman

Accelerated Durability Testing of Perfluorosulfonic Acid MEAs for PEMFCs Using Different Relative Humidities

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) receive worldwide attention as the electricity-generating engine for the hydrogen economy. Cost, durability, performance, reliability, efficiency, and size, are some of the requirements that must be met before PEMFCs can be expanded commercially. The lifetime requirement for onsite, combined heat and power applications is about 40,000 hours and for transportation applications 5,000 (cars) and 20,000 hours (buses). Membrane durability is one of the most important factors limiting the lifetime of PEMFCs.

Accelerated Durability Testing of Perfluorosulfonic Acid MEAs for PEMFCs

There is a strong interest in durability studies of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) because, along with cost, the long-term stability of PEMFC is a limiting factor in their commercialization. Examining the characteristics of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) over a prescribed amount of time under accelerated degradation conditions can give an indication of the degradation behavior of each MEA. Testing under low humidities and/or high temperatures or by humidity or temperature cycling are techniques that accelerate degradation.

Effect of Equivalent Weight of Phosphotungstic Acid-Incorporated Composite Membranes on the High Temperature Operation of PEM Fuel Cells

Fuel cells have shown great promise for future power sources and there has been substantial advancement in the technology of fuel cells over the past decades. For automobile application, however, there are still challenging issues related to its performance and durability. It is highly desirable to operate fuel cells at high temperature because of a number of benefits, e.g., improved reaction kinetics and carbon monoxide tolerance. Since the conventional polymer electrolytes such as Nafion are not stable at high temperatures, the development of novel membranes that are mechanically, thermally, and electrochemically stable at high temperatures while providing good conductivity under low relative humidity condition is one of the most challenging areas of research for automobile applications of fuel cells. In fact, extensive research efforts have been made to design new proton exchange materials that can overcome the limitations of conventional polymer electrolytes.