Influence of temperature and relative humidity on performance and CO tolerance of PEM fuel cells with Nafion (R)-Teflon (R)-Zr(HPO4)(2)

    Authors

    R. C. Jiang; H. R. Kunz;J. M. Fenton

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Electrochim. Acta

    Keywords

    carbon monoxide (CO); high temperature; relative humidity; fuel cell; membrane; anode polarization; CO stripping voltammetry; ROTATING-DISK ELECTRODE; H-2/CO MIXTURES; PT-RU; CARBON-MONOXIDE; BINARY-ALLOYS; ELECTROOXIDATION; CATALYST; HYDROGEN; OXIDATION; SURFACE; Electrochemistry

    Abstract

    The carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning effect on carbon supported catalysts (Pt-Ru/C and Pt/C in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells has been investigated at higher temperatures (T > 100 degrees C) under different relative humidity (RH) conditions. To reduce the IR losses in higher temperature/lower relative humidity, Nafion-(R) Tetlon-(R) Zr(HPO4)(2) composite membranes were applied as the cell electrolytes. Fuel cell polarization investigation as well as CO stripping voltammetry measurements was carried out at three cell temperatures (80, 105 and 120 degrees C) with various inlet anode relative humidity (35%, 58% and 100%). CO concentrations in hydrogen varied from 10 ppm to 2%. The fuel cell performance loss due to CO poisoning was significantly alleviated at higher temperature/lower RH due to the lower CO adsorption coverage on the catalytic sites, in spite that the anode catalyst utilization was lower at such conditions due to higher ionic resistance in the electrode. Increasing the anode inlet relative humidity at the higher temperature also alleviated the fuel cell performance losses, which could be attributed to the combination effects of suppressing CO adsorption, increasing anode catalyst utilization and favoring OHads group generation for easier CO oxidation. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Electrochimica Acta

    Volume

    51

    Issue/Number

    26

    Publication Date

    1-1-2006

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    5596

    Last Page

    5605

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000240167400004

    ISSN

    0013-4686

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