skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Statistical Simulation of the Performance and Degradation of a PEMFC Membrane Electrode Assembly

Conference · · ECS Transactions

A 1-D MEA Performance model was developed that considered transport of liquid water, agglomerate catalyst structure, and the statistical variation of the MEA characteristic parameters. The model was validated against a low surface area carbon supported catalyst across various platinum loadings and operational conditions. The statistical variation was found to play a significant role in creating noise in the validation data and that there was a coupling effect between movement in material properties with liquid water transport. Further, in studying the low platinum loaded catalyst layers it was found that liquid water played a significant role in the increasing the overall transport losses. The model was then further applied to study platinum dissolution via potential cycling accelerated stress tests, in which the platinum was found to dissolve nearest the membrane effectively resulting in reaction distribution shifts within the layer.

Research Organization:
Ballard Power Systems, Burnaby, BC
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
EE0000466
OSTI ID:
1084694
Report Number(s):
DOE/E0000466-9
Journal Information:
ECS Transactions, Vol. 50, Issue 2; Conference: 222nd ECS Meeting, Honolulu, Hawai’I, October 7 -12, 2012
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English