Electrode Edge Cobalt Cation Migration in an Operating Fuel Cell: An In Situ Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Study

Cai, Yun; Ziegelbauer, Joseph M.; Baker, Andrew M.; Gu, Wenbin; Kukreja, Ratandeep S.; Kongkanand, Anusorn; Mathias, Mark F.; Mukundan, Rangachary; Borup, Rod L.

doi:10.1149/2.0201806jes

Title: Electrode Edge Cobalt Cation Migration in an Operating Fuel Cell: An In Situ Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Study

Journal Article · Wed Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0201806jes· OSTI ID:1426004

^[1]; Ziegelbauer, Joseph M. ^[1];

^[2]; Gu, Wenbin ^[1]; Kukreja, Ratandeep S. ^[1];

^[1]; Mathias, Mark F. ^[1];

^[2];

^[2]

General Motors (GM), Pontiac, MI (United States). Global Fuel Cell Business
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

PtCo-alloy cathode electrocatalysts release Co cations under operation, and the presence of these cations in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) can result in large performance losses. It is unlikely that these cations are static, but change positions depending on operating conditions. A thorough accounting of these Co cation positions and concentrations has been impossible to obtain owing to the inability to monitor these processes in operando. Indeed, the environment (water and ion content, potential, and temperature) within a fuel cell varies widely from inlet to outlet, from anode to cathode, and from active to inactive area. Synchrotron micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) was leveraged to directly monitor Co2+ transport in an operating H2/air MEA for the first time. A Nafion membrane was exchanged to a known Co cation capacity, and standard Pt/C electrocatalysts were utilized for both electrodes. Co Kα1 XRF maps revealed through-plane transient Co transport responses driven by cell potential and current density. Because of the cell design and imaging geometry, the distributions were strongly impacted by the MEA edge configuration. These findings will drive future imaging cell designs to allow for quantitative mapping of cation through-plane distributions during operation.

View Journal Article

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); General Motors, Pontiac, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396; AC02-06CH11357; EE0007271

OSTI ID:: 1426004

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1441341; OSTI ID: 1504242

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-18-20372; /jes/165/6/F3132.atom

Journal Information:: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Vol. 165 Journal Issue: 6; ISSN 0013-4651

Publisher:: The Electrochemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 25 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (22)

Degradation Mitigation in Polymer Electrolyte Membranes Using Cerium Oxide as a Regenerative Free-Radical Scavenger Trogadas, Panagiotis; Parrondo, Javier; Ramani, Vijay Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2916443	journal	January 2008
New Insights into Perfluorinated Sulfonic-Acid Ionomers Kusoglu, Ahmet; Weber, Adam Z. Chemical Reviews, Vol. 117, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00159	journal	January 2017
Effect of Cerium, Cobalt and Nickel Contaminants on the Oxygen Reduction Reaction at Platinum Electrodes Dumont, Joseph H.; Baker, Andrew M.; Maurya, Sandip ECS Transactions, Vol. 80, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1149/08008.0861ecst	journal	August 2017
PEMFC contaminant tolerance limit – Foreign cations in ionomers St-Pierre, Jean International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 36, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.143	journal	May 2011
Modeling the steady-state effects of cationic contamination on polymer electrolyte membranes Kienitz, B. L.; Baskaran, H.; Zawodzinski, T. A. Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 54, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2008.09.058	journal	February 2009
Mitigation of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane Chemical Degradation Using Cerium and Manganese Ions Coms, Frank D.; Liu, Han; Owejan, Jeanette E. 214th ECS Meeting, ECS Transactions https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2982015	conference	January 2008
A review of PEM fuel cell durability: Degradation mechanisms and mitigation strategies Wu, Jinfeng; Yuan, Xiao Zi; Martin, Jonathan J. Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 184, Issue 1, p. 104-119 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.06.006	journal	September 2008
Pt Catalyst Degradation in Aqueous and Fuel Cell Environments studied via In-Operando Anomalous Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Gilbert, James A.; Kariuki, Nancy N.; Wang, Xiaoping Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 173 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2015.05.032	journal	August 2015
Cerium Migration during PEM Fuel Cell Accelerated Stress Testing Baker, Andrew M.; Mukundan, Rangachary; Spernjak, Dusan Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 163, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0181609jes	journal	January 2016
Degradation Mechanisms of Platinum Nanoparticle Catalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: The Role of Particle Size Yu, Kang; Groom, Daniel J.; Wang, Xiaoping Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1021/cm501867c	journal	September 2014
Determination of Catalyst Unique Parameters for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in a PEMFC Neyerlin, K. C.; Gu, Wenbin; Jorne, Jacob Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 153, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2266294	journal	January 2006
Effect of cations (Na+, Ca2+, Fe3+) on the conductivity of a Nafion membrane Hongsirikarn, Kitiya; Goodwin, James G.; Greenway, Scott Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 195, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.05.005	journal	November 2010
Ion and water transport characteristics of Nafion membranes as electrolytes Okada, Tatsuhiro; Xie, Gang; Gorseth, Oddvar Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 43, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0013-4686(98)00132-7	journal	August 1998
A Half Cell Model to Study Performance Degradation of a PEMFC due to Cationic Contamination Kienitz, Brian; Baskaran, Harihara; Zawodzinski, T. 212th ECS Meeting, ECS Transactions https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2780991	conference	January 2007
Cerium Migration through Hydrogen Fuel Cells during Accelerated Stress Testing Stewart, S. M.; Spernjak, D.; Borup, R. ECS Electrochemistry Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.008404eel	journal	January 2014
Platinum-Alloy Cathode Catalyst Degradation in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Nanometer-Scale Compositional and Morphological Changes Chen, Shuo; Gasteiger, Hubert A.; Hayakawa, Katsuichiro Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 157, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.3258275	journal	January 2010
In-Operando Anomalous Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering Investigation of Pt ₃ Co Catalyst Degradation in Aqueous and Fuel Cell Environments Gilbert, James A.; Kropf, A. Jeremy; Kariuki, Nancy N. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 162, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0531514jes	journal	January 2015
Cationic Contamination Effects on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Performance Kienitz, Brian; Pivovar, Bryan; Zawodzinski, Tom Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 158, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.3610986	journal	January 2011
Computational Modeling of Foreign Cation Contamination in PEFCs Uddin, Md. Aman; Pasaogullari, Ugur Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 161, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0921410jes	journal	January 2014
Effects of Cobalt Cation on Low Pt-loaded PEM Fuel Cell Performance Cai, Y.; Kongkanand, A.; Gu, W. ECS Transactions, Vol. 69, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1149/06917.1047ecst	journal	September 2015
Ion and Water Transport Characteristics in Membranes for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Containing H[sup +] and Ca[sup 2+] Cations Okada, Tatsuhiro Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 144, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.1837890	journal	January 1997
Study of the Exchange Current Density for the Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution Reactions Neyerlin, K. C.; Gu, Wenbin; Jorne, Jacob Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 154, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2733987	journal	January 2007

Similar Records

Fuel Cell Membrane Electrode Assemblies with Ultra-Low Pt Nanofiber Electrodes

Technical Report · Tue Apr 02 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · OSTI ID:1426004

Pintauro, Peter N

Tailoring Electrode Microstructure via Ink Content to Enable Improved Rated Power Performance for Platinum Cobalt/High Surface Area Carbon Based Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Journal Article · Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Power Sources · OSTI ID:1426004

Van Cleve, Timothy; Wang, Guanxiong; Mooney, Mason; +6 more

FISCAL YEAR 2006 REPORT ON ELECTROLYZER COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT FOR THE HYBRID SULFUR PROJECT

Technical Report · Thu Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · OSTI ID:1426004

Colon-Mercado, H; David Hobbs, D; Daryl Coleman, D; +1 more

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
Energy Sciences
Fuel cell
XRF
Durability
Co
cation migration
08 HYDROGEN

Title: Electrode Edge Cobalt Cation Migration in an Operating Fuel Cell: An In Situ Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Study

Citation Formats

References (22)

Similar Records

Related Subjects