Influence of trace oxygen in low-crossover proton exchange membrane fuel cells

    Authors

    R. P. Brooker; M. P. Rodgers; L. J. Bonville; H. R. Kunz; D. K. Slattery;J. M. Fenton

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Power Sources

    Keywords

    Hydrogen crossover; Linear sweep voltammetry; PEM fuel cells; Oxygen; reduction; GAS PERMEATION; HYDROGEN PERMEATION; WATER-UPTAKE; SPE METHOD; NAFION; DEGRADATION; DURABILITY; DIFFUSION; SOLUBILITY; TRANSPORT; Electrochemistry; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    The determination of hydrogen permeation through a polymer electrolyte membrane is often achieved through electrochemical methods, under the assumption of no oxygen at the working electrode. However, multiple experiments utilizing low hydrogen crossover conditions have shown reduction currents resulting from trace amounts (2-3 ppm) of oxygen. For conventional membranes, hydrogen crossover is sufficient to overwhelm the trace oxygen, such that the hydrogen permeation results are unaffected. For those conditions with low hydrogen crossover, the presence of trace oxygen can become dominant. This is particularly relevant for advanced polymer electrolyte membranes with very low gas permeability. The use of electrochemical techniques to ascertain the hydrogen permeation coefficient for membranes with low gas permeability was found to be significantly influenced by the presence of trace oxygen. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Power Sources

    Volume

    218

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    181

    Last Page

    186

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000309038100029

    ISSN

    0378-7753

    Share

    COinS