The impact of carbon stability on PEM fuel cell startup and shutdown voltage degradation

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

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

181 Scopus citations

Abstract

Conventional carbon MEAs and graphitized carbon MEAs were evaluated for the resistance to carbon corrosion and startup/shutdown durability in this paper. Graphitized carbon MEAs show higher resistance to carbon corrosion than conventional carbon MEAs by a factor of 35 at a point where 5% weight loss had occurred. A graphitized carbon MEA yielded lower degradation rate than that of a conventional carbon MEA by a factor of 5 after 1,000 startup/shutdown cycles. The kinetics of carbon corrosion over both conventional carbon MEAs and graphitized carbon MEAs were measured, and carbon corrosion during startup/shutdown was explained and modeled. The model results correlate to what we have measured from our startup/shutdown durability test. Overall, MEAs with corrosion resistant carbon supports are one of major materials approaches to mitigate cell voltage degradation due to fuel cell startup/shutdown. We believe that a combination of corrosion resistant materials and system operating mitigation strategies is the path to attain the strict automotive durability targets. copyright The Electrochemical Society.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 6
PublisherElectrochemical Society Inc.
Pages797-809
Number of pages13
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)1566775019
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes
EventProton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 6 - 210th Electrochemical Society Meeting - Cancun, Mexico
Duration: 29 Oct 20063 Nov 2006

Publication series

NameECS Transactions
Number1
Volume3
ISSN (Print)1938-5862
ISSN (Electronic)1938-6737

Conference

ConferenceProton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 6 - 210th Electrochemical Society Meeting
Country/TerritoryMexico
CityCancun
Period29/10/063/11/06

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