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Title: The Effect of Membrane Properties on Performance and Transports inside Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

The primary focus of this work is evaluation, modeling, and comparison of fuel cell properties for a sulfonated aromatic hydrocarbon polymer membrane under fuel cell operations against the standard commercial Nafion membrane. Membrane characterization of transport properties were reported. The fuel cell performance, current distribution mapping, and water balance measurements of both membrane were also examined at different humidity conditions. The studies show that at high RH, the hydrocarbon membrane gives better performance with less water flooding when compared with standard Nafion. However at low RH, where the membrane needs more hydration and conducting of the proton, the standard Nafion membrane shows higher performance than hydrocarbon membrane. Local distributions of current density, water content and liquid water in hydrocarbon membranes were simulated and compared with a Nafion 212 membrane. Both experimental data and model predictions show that the hydrocarbon membrane gives more uniform current distributions than that of the Nafion membrane. The computational model can predict water transport across the membrane and can be used to observe flooding in PEMFC.

Authors:
ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Giner, Inc., Newton, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Fuel Cell Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO)
OSTI Identifier:
1469413
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1545797
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0000471
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of the Electrochemical Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Journal Volume: 165 Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-4651
Publisher:
The Electrochemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
25 ENERGY STORAGE; Current Density Distribution; Membrane characterization; water balance measurement

Citation Formats

Shimpalee, S., Lilavivat, V., Xu, H., Rowlett, J. R., Mittelsteadt, C., and Van Zee, J. W. The Effect of Membrane Properties on Performance and Transports inside Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1149/2.0081813jes.
Shimpalee, S., Lilavivat, V., Xu, H., Rowlett, J. R., Mittelsteadt, C., & Van Zee, J. W. The Effect of Membrane Properties on Performance and Transports inside Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0081813jes
Shimpalee, S., Lilavivat, V., Xu, H., Rowlett, J. R., Mittelsteadt, C., and Van Zee, J. W. 2018. "The Effect of Membrane Properties on Performance and Transports inside Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0081813jes.
@article{osti_1469413,
title = {The Effect of Membrane Properties on Performance and Transports inside Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells},
author = {Shimpalee, S. and Lilavivat, V. and Xu, H. and Rowlett, J. R. and Mittelsteadt, C. and Van Zee, J. W.},
abstractNote = {The primary focus of this work is evaluation, modeling, and comparison of fuel cell properties for a sulfonated aromatic hydrocarbon polymer membrane under fuel cell operations against the standard commercial Nafion membrane. Membrane characterization of transport properties were reported. The fuel cell performance, current distribution mapping, and water balance measurements of both membrane were also examined at different humidity conditions. The studies show that at high RH, the hydrocarbon membrane gives better performance with less water flooding when compared with standard Nafion. However at low RH, where the membrane needs more hydration and conducting of the proton, the standard Nafion membrane shows higher performance than hydrocarbon membrane. Local distributions of current density, water content and liquid water in hydrocarbon membranes were simulated and compared with a Nafion 212 membrane. Both experimental data and model predictions show that the hydrocarbon membrane gives more uniform current distributions than that of the Nafion membrane. The computational model can predict water transport across the membrane and can be used to observe flooding in PEMFC.},
doi = {10.1149/2.0081813jes},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1469413}, journal = {Journal of the Electrochemical Society},
issn = {0013-4651},
number = 11,
volume = 165,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Sep 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0081813jes

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 12 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Works referenced in this record:

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