Impacts of electrode coating irregularities on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell lifetime using quasi in-situ infrared thermography and accelerated stress testing

Phillips, Adam; Ulsh, Michael; Neyerlin, K. C.; Porter, Jason; Bender, Guido

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.02.050

Title: Impacts of electrode coating irregularities on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell lifetime using quasi in-situ infrared thermography and accelerated stress testing

Journal Article · Fri Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 2018 · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.02.050· OSTI ID:1426642

Phillips, Adam ^[1]; Ulsh, Michael ^[2]; Neyerlin, K. C. ^[2]; Porter, Jason ^[3]; Bender, Guido ^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

In-line quality control diagnostics for roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing techniques will play a key role in the future commercialization of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) used in automotive applications. These diagnostics monitor the fabrication of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which detect and flag any non-uniformity that may potentially harm PEMFC performance and/or lifetime. This will require quantitative thresholds and a clear distinction between harmful defects and harmless coating irregularities. Thus, novel fuel cell hardware with quasi in-situ infrared (IR) thermography capabilities is utilized to understand how bare spots in the cathode electrode impact MEA lifetime. An accelerated stress test (AST) simulates chemical and mechanical degradation modes seen in vehicular operation. The actual open circuit voltage and rate of change of this voltage are used as in-situ indicators for MEA failure, enabling capture of the progression of failure point development. Bare spot coating irregularities located at the center of the electrode were found to have no impact on MEA lifetime when compared to a pristine MEA. However, MEA lifetime was found to be considerably shortened when these same irregularities are located at the cathode inlet and, especially, the anode inlet regions of the fuel cell.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Program (EE-3F); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1426642

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1496283

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-70934

Journal Information:: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 43, Issue 12; ISSN 0360-3199

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 21 works

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