Cerium migration during PEM fuel cell assembly and operation

Journal Article · Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · ECS Transactions (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/06917.1009ecst· OSTI ID:1234248

Baker, Andrew M. ^[1]; Torraco, Dennis ^[2]; Judge, Elizabeth J. ^[2]; Spernjak, Dusan ^[2]; Mukundan, Rangachary ^[2]; Borup, Rod L. ^[2]; Advani, Suresh G. ^[3]; Prasad, Ajay K. ^[3]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

Cerium migration between PEM fuel cell components is influenced by potential-driven mobility, ionic diffusion, and gradients in water content. These factors were investigated in ex situ experiments and in operating fuel cells. Potential-induced migration was measured ex situ in hydrated window cells. Cerium-containing MEAs were also fabricated and tested under ASTs. MEA disassembly and subsequent XRF analysis were used to observe rapid cerium migration during cell assembly and operation. During MEA hot pressing, humidification, and low RH operation at OCV, ionic diffusion causes uniform migration from the membrane into the catalyst layers. During high RH operation at OCV, in-plane cerium gradients arise due to variations in water content. These gradients may diminish the scavenging efficacy of cerium by reducing its proximity to generated radicals.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1234248
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-15-25324
• Journal Information: ECS Transactions (Online), Vol. 69, Issue 17; ISSN 1938-6737
• Publisher: Electrochemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
Energy Sciences
Fuel Cell