Comparative and Comprehensive Studies of Tolerance to Airborne Contaminants of PEMFC with Pt and Non-Pt Cathodes Using Segmented Cell Approach and Spatial EIS
Abstract
As fuel cell technology moves toward a mass-production stage, research has to address issues relating to cost production, durability and stability of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance. Most fuel cells use ambient air as an oxidant, which contains a variety of contaminants originating from vehicle and industrial exhausts as well as from naturally occurring processes. It was shown that in addition to being expensive conventional Pt cathodes do not have a sufficient tolerance to major air pollutants (SO2, H2S, NH3, NOx) (1, 2). So attempts to replace Pt with non-platinum group metals have been pursued in order to reduce cost production and gain stability of PEMFC performance in harsh environments (3). The evaluation of fuel cell performance with a single, lumped cell does not reveal its spatial behavior. In contrast, a segmented cell system provides locally resolved voltage, current and impedance, which is a powerful tool for understanding the environmental adaptability, durability and poisoning mechanisms. In this work, the spatial performance of Pt and Fe/N/C cathode fuel cells exposed to 2-20 ppm SO2, NO2 and CO in air was comprehensively studied and compared using a segmented cell system and spatial electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for the first time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jul 07, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1149/ma2015-02/37/1527
Entities
People
- Alexey Serov
- Ivana Matanovic
- Jean St-pierre
- Kateryna Artyushkova
- Plamen Atanassov
- Sarah Stariha
- Tatyana V. Reshetenko