The DOE Fuel Cell technical team recommended ASTs were performed on 2 different MEAs (designated P5 and HD6) from Ballard Power Systems. These MEAs were also incorporated into stacks and operated in fuel cell bus modules that were either operated in the field (three P5 buses) in Hamburg, or on an Orange county transit authority drive cycle in the laboratory (HD6 bus module). Qualitative agreement was found in the degradation mechanisms and rates observed in the AST and in the field. The HD6 based MEAs exhibited lower voltage degradation rates (due to catalyst corrosion) and slower membrane degradation rates in the field as reflected by their superior performance in the high potential hold and open-circuit potential AST tests. The quantitative correlation of the degradation rates will have to take into account the various stressors in the field including temperature, relative humidity, start/stops and voltage cycles.

Non-aqueous redox flow batteries have shown promise for applications in grid energy storage. Increasing the efficiency of these batteries by developing the electrolyte chemistries is needed. Herein, we investigate the correlation between solvent properties and the electrochemical parameters of vanadium acetylacetonate V(acac)3. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and rotating disk electrode experiments (RDE), we show that trends in the performance of the V(acac)3 kinetics are directly related to solvent properties. We found strong relationships between the solvents polarity, viscosity, and donor number with the electrochemical behavior of V(acac)3 in terms of the electrochemical working widow, electron kinetics and stability towards cycling. Based on these finding, we also demonstrate how solvent selection can be improved with limited a priori knowledge.

Water management remains a key challenge in polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. In this work, a pseudo 3-D (1+2D) model is developed to account better for changes of water management along the channel, as well as verify the possibilities of using differential cells for data capture and translation to integral cell performance. An accurate 2-D membrane-electrode-assembly model is developed for differential cell modeling, which is combined with an along-the-channel stepping algorithm to account for down the channel changes in pressure, temperature, reactant concentration, and relative humidity. Variations in cell performance along the channel due to changes in operating conditions are characterized quantitatively and optimized, where drier feed conditions demonstratively require such an approach. Overall, the study identifies gaps between differential and integral cells including those related to flow velocity and highlights the need for better models to understand and link integral cell performance and water management.

In this work, we investigate the cold-start operation of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) through high-resolution neutron radiography, experimental testing, theoretical evaluation, and comparison with model prediction. Ice formation location, voltage evolution, and loss of the electro-catalyst surface area (ECSA) are examined. A dimensionless parameter , characterizing the spatial variation of the reaction rate across the cathode catalyst layer, is discussed at subfreezing temperature using newly determined membrane ionic conductivity. The evaluation identifies the operating range that the reaction rate can be treated uniform across the catalyst layer, in which the model is valid. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A hydrogen pump experiment was utilized to simultaneously determine the migration and diffusivity of Ce ions in perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes over a range of temperatures and relative humidities. Ce ion migration profiles were quantified as a function of charge transfer through the cell using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Competing transport phenomena were decoupled by fitting XRF profile data with our previously-developed one-dimensional model, which was updated with improved conductivity and water uptake relations. Measured transport values showed good agreement with the Einstein relation and Okada transport theory, implying that conductivity can be used to estimate migration and diffusivity of cations in other cation/PFSA systems. Results presented here may be used to populate device-level models in order to further understand the effects of cation transport on fuel cell performance and durability to determine the mitigation controls for cation stabilization.

The numerical model used in the original article [1] was updated during the review process; however, some cell parameter expressions have remained from the first version of article and mistakenly were not updated during revisions. The expressions used in the actual model and analysis are accurate and therefore none of the results or outcomes are impacted. The oxygen diffusivity in ionomer [Formula presented] expressed in Table 3 of original article is incorrectly reported. The actual expression implemented in the model is as follows: [Formula presented][Formula presented] The membrane protonic conductivity in vapor equilibrated phase [Formula presented] expressed in Table S2 (supplementary material, original article) Eq. (11) is incorrectly reported. The actual expression implemented in the model is as follows: [Formula presented] Finally, the membrane water vapor uptake [Formula presented] fitted to experimental data shown in Fig. S3 (supplementary material, original article) is based on an outdated set of experimental data which was replaced by a more reliable data in revised article. The new fit is shown in the following figure. [Figure presented] Fig. 1. Vapor equilibrated fitted water-uptake curve for the Nafion® HP membrane and comparison with Nafion®112 membrane.

The ability of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) to startup at subfreezing temperatures is governed by whether it is able to overcome the freezing point (0°C) before product ice prevents the electrochemical reactions. In this work, we experimentally investigated the coulombs of charge Qc transferred in PEFCs under subfreezing operation before the output voltage drops to 0.0V. PEFCs with various membranes and catalyst-layer thicknesses, ionomer-carbon ratios, operating current density, and initial hydration of PEFCs were studied, and their influences on cold-start performance and coulombs of charge were experimentally measured. We find that subfreezing temperature, ionomer-catalyst ratio, and catalyst-layer thickness, significantly affect the amount of charge transferred before operational failure, whereas the membrane thickness and initial hydration level have limited effect for the considered cases. © 2013 The Electrochemical Society.

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are being considered for heavy duty applications, and the DOE has established various performance and durability targets to enable their adoption.1. The key differences between light and heavy-duty application of fuel cells is their increased durability and operating efficiency requirements for heavy duty applications when compared to the lower cost requirement for light duty applications. While higher catalyst loadings can be utilized to increase the fuel cell performance and catalyst lifetime, membrane durability could be a significant outstanding challenge. Membranes are expected to last 25,000 hours to 30,000 hours for heavy duty applications and the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium (M2FCT) is evaluating various membrane technologies for use in heavy duty drive cycles. Current state of the art membranes with both mechanical and chemical stabilization have already met light-duty durability requirement of 5000+ hours and have the potential to meet 25,000+ hour lifetimes. This talk will describe the various membrane related accelerated stress tests (ASTs) developed by the consortium and will present membrane durability results obtained from long-term (500 hours) fuel cell operation at elevated temperature (90 oC). Both the mechanical and chemical durability of membranes will be discussed with particular emphasis and fluoride emission rates (FERs) and lifetime predictions. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy (DOE) through the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) consortia, technology managers G. Kleen and D. Papageorgopoulos. References: 1.https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/19006_hydrogen_class8_long_haul_truck_targets.pdf

A combined chemical/mechanical accelerated stress test (AST) was developed for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells based on relative humidity cycling (RHC) between dry and saturated gases at open circuit voltage (OCV). Membrane degradation and failure were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. Changes to membrane thickness, hydrophilic domain spacing, and crystallinity were observed to be most similar between field-operated cells and OCV RHC ASTs, where local thinning and divot-type defects are the primary failure modes. While RHC in air also reproduces these failure modes, it is not aggressive enough to differentiate between different membrane types in >1,333 hours (55 days) of testing. Conversely, steady-state OCV tests result in significant ionomer morphology changes and global thinning, which do not replicate field degradation and failure modes. It is inferred that during the OCV RHC AST, the decay of the membrane’s mechanical properties is accelerated such that materials can be evaluated in hundreds, instead of thousands, of hours, while replicating the degradation and failure modes of field operation; associated AST protocols are recommended as OCV RHC at 90◦C for 500 hours with wet/dry cycle durations of 30s/45s and 2m/2m for automotive and bus operation, respectively.

This work presents an in situ study on the water-content measurement in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) using neutron imaging. The effects of several important operating and design parameters on water content are examined, including the relative humidity (RH), the polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) loadings in gas diffusion media including the microporous layer (MPL), current density, and flow field configurations including single-/quad-serpentine channels and co-/counter-flow configurations. Efforts are also made to distinguish water contents between the channel and land projected areas, and obtain the water profile along the gas flow path. We find that the highest water content occurs at a low current density for fixed operational stoichiometry, and liquid water emerges downstream at low humidity and increases rapidly after on-set. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.