Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Durability

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Stack Components

   1. Introduction

      Pages 3-3

   2. Catalysts

      1. Dissolution and Stabilization of Platinum in Oxygen Cathodes

         • Kotaro Sasaki, Minhua Shao, Radoslav Adzic

         Pages 7-27

      2. Carbon-Support Requirements for Highly Durable Fuel Cell Operation

         • Paul T. Yu, Wenbin Gu, Jingxin Zhang, Rohit Makharia, Frederick T. Wagner, Hubert A. Gasteiger

         Pages 29-53

   3. Membranes

      1. Chemical Degradation of Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Membranes

         • Minoru Inaba

         Pages 57-69

      2. Chemical Degradation: Correlations Between Electrolyzer and Fuel Cell Findings

         • Han Liu, Frank D. Coms, Jingxin Zhang, Hubert A. Gasteiger, Anthony B. LaConti

         Pages 71-118

      3. Improvement of Membrane and Membrane Electrode Assembly Durability

         • Eiji Endoh, Satoru Hommura

         Pages 119-132

      4. Durability of Radiation-Grafted Fuel Cell Membranes

         • Lorenz Gubler, Günther G. Scherer

         Pages 133-155

   4. GDL

      1. Durability Aspects of Gas-Diffusion and Microporous Layers

         • David L. Wood III, Rodney L. Borup

         Pages 159-195

   5. MEAs

      1. High-Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: Durability Insights

         • Thomas J. Schmidt

         Pages 199-221

      2. Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Durability

         • Yu Seung Kim, Piotr Zelenay

         Pages 223-240

   6. Bipolar Plates

      1. Influence of Metallic Bipolar Plates on the Durability of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

         • Joachim Scherer, Daniel Münter, Raimund Ströbel

         Pages 243-255

      2. Durability of Graphite Composite Bipolar Plates

         • Tetsuo Mitani, Kenro Mitsuda

         Pages 257-268

   7. Sealings

      1. Gaskets: Important Durability Issues

         • Ruth Bieringer, Matthias Adler, Stefan Geiss, Michael Viol

         Pages 271-281

3. Cells and Stack Operation

   1. Introduction

      Pages 285-285

   2. Impact of Contaminants

      1. Air Impurities

         • Jean St-Pierre

         Pages 289-321

      2. Impurity Effects on Electrode Reactions in Fuel Cells

         • Tatsuhiro Okada

         Pages 323-339

      3. Performance and Durability of a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Operating with Reformate: Effects of CO, CO2, and Other Trace Impurities

         • Bin Du, Richard Pollard, John F. Elter, Manikandan Ramani

         Pages 341-366

   3. Freezing

      1. Subfreezing Phenomena in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

         • Jeremy P. Meyers

         Pages 369-382

   4. Reliability Testing

      1. Application of Accelerated Testing and Statistical Lifetime Modeling to Membrane Electrode Assembly Development

         • Michael Hicks, Daniel Pierpont

         Pages 385-396

This book covers a significant number of R&D projects, performed mostly after 2000, devoted to the understanding and prevention of performance degradation processes in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The extent and severity of performance degradation processes in PEFCs were recognized rather gradually. Indeed, the recognition overlapped with a significant number of industrial dem- strations of fuel cell powered vehicles, which would suggest a degree of technology maturity beyond the resaolution of fundamental failure mechanisms. An intriguing question, therefore, is why has there been this apparent delay in addressing fun- mental performance stability requirements. The apparent answer is that testing of the power system under fully realistic operation conditions was one prerequisite for revealing the nature and extent of some key modes of PEFC stack failure. Such modes of failure were not exposed to a similar degree, or not at all, in earlier tests of PEFC stacks which were not performed under fully relevant conditions, parti- larly such tests which did not include multiple on–off and/or high power–low power cycles typical for transportation and mobile power applications of PEFCs. Long-term testing of PEFCs reported in the early 1990s by both Los Alamos National Laboratory and Ballard Power was performed under conditions of c- stant cell voltage, typically near the maximum power point of the PEFC.

• Methanol
• direct methanol fuel cell
• fuel cell
• hydrogen
• microbial fuel cell

From the reviews: “The editors of this book have brought together a strong collection of … topics of PEMFC design and operation, and provide a solid overview of all key aspects of their durability. … for students and new workers in the field, this book could serve as a short course which allows them to critically read the literature and to understand the conference papers on the subject from a solid frame of reference.” (David A. Schiraldi, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 210, 2009)

• Electrochemistry LaboratoryPaul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland

  Felix N. Büchi

• Department Molecular Science and Technology, Doshisha University, Kyotanabe, Japan

  Minoru Inaba

• BASF Fuel Cell GmbH Industrial Park Hoechst, Germany

  Thomas J. Schmidt

Policies and ethics