In Situ Modeling of Chemical Membrane Degradation in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

摘要: Ceria-supported membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) have recently been proposed to address chemical degradation in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Although ceria is known effectively protect the at open circuit voltage (OCV) conditions, its effectiveness has not demon- strated for cell voltages below OCV and associated conditions relevant field operation. In present work, a comprehensive, transient situ chem- ical model stabilized MEAs developed applied investigate mitigation of additive. At high volt- ages, abundant Ce ions are available quench hydroxyl radicals which primary mechanism observed conditions. However, suppressed low voltages, where elec- tromigration drives into cathode catalyst layer (CL). Without an adequate amount membrane, radical scavenging significantly reduced, leading ten-fold reduction ∗Corresponding author. Tel: +1 (778) 782-8791; Fax: 782-7514 Email address: ekjeang@sfu.ca (Erik Kjeang) Preprint submitted Journal Power Sources April 20, 2015