Electrolyte membrane degradation

Panchenko A, Dilger H, Mdller E, Sixt T, Roduner E (2004) In situ EPR investigation of polymer electrolyte membrane degradation in fuel cell applications. J Power Sources 127 325-330... 

A. Panchenko, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Degradation and Oxygen Reduction in Fuel Cells an EPR and DFT investigation, Fakultat Chemie der Univeisitat Stuttgart (2004). 

Fenton test is almost the most widely used method in polymer electrolyte membrane degradation studies because it saves time, is well controlled, and most importantly makes it easy to obtain an undamaged sample without interference from the Pt CL during analysis (Schumb et al., 1955 Guo et al., 1999 ... 

Laconti, A., Liu, H., Mittelsteadt, C., and McDonald, R. 2006. Polymer electrolyte membrane degradation mechanisms in fuel cells—Findings over the past 30 years and comparison with electrolyzers. ECS Transactions 1 199-219. 

Panchenko, A. (2006) DFT investigation of the polymer electrolyte membrane degradation caused by OH radicals in fuel cells. J. Membr. Sci. 278, 269-278. 

Electro-catalysts which have various metal contents have been applied to the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). For the PEMFCs, Pt based noble metals have been widely used. In case the pure hydrogen is supplied as anode fuel, the platinum only electrocatalysts show the best activity in PEMFC. But the severe activity degradation can occur even by ppm level CO containing fuels, i.e. hydrocarbon reformates[l-3]. To enhance the resistivity to the CO poison of electro-catalysts, various kinds of alloy catalysts have been suggested. Among them, Pt-Ru alloy catalyst has been considered one of the best catalyst in the aspect of CO tolerance[l-3]. 

M. Schulze, N. Wagner, T. Kaz, and K. A. Friedrich. Gombmed electrochemical and surface analysis investigation of degradation processes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Electrochimica Acta 52 (2007) 2328-2336. 

Based on our observation, a membrane degradation and failure mechanism under the RH cycling, a pure mechanical effect is theorized as the following sequence electrode-microcracking- - crazing initiation at the electrode/electrolyte interface - crack growth under stress cycling- -fast fracture/instability. 

The presence of water is critical for operation but in current PEMFCs proper water management is a delicate issue and poor control can greatly reduce the efficiency of the device. An excess of water can flood the catalyst and porous transport layers impeding the transport of reactants and eventually drowning the fuel cell. At low water content, the polymer electrolyte membrane can become a poor conductor and the reactivity at the electrodes is affected. Local hot spots arising due to the inefficient operation result in early degradation of the cell. ... 

Another critical issue regarding durability of PEM fuel cells is the reliability of the electrolytic membrane, which can undergo mechanical, thermal, and chemical/ electrochemical degradations [63]. The mechanical degradation consists in different types of failure (cracks, pinholes, perforations) which are favored by... 

Collier A, Wang H, Yuan X, Zhang J, Wilkinson DP (2006) Degradation of polymer electrolyte membranes. Int J Hydrogen Energ 31 1838-1854... 

In addition, other processes are active such as peroxide induced degradation of the polymer electrolyte membrane. 

Inaba M, Kinumoto T, Kiriake M, Umebayashi R, Tasaka A, Ogumi Z (2006) Gas crossover and membrane degradation in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. Electrochim Acta 51 5746-5753... 

Franco AA (2012) PEMFC degradation modeling and analysis. In Hartnig C, Roth C (eds) Polymer electrolyte membrane and direct methanol fuel cell technology (PEMFCs and DMFCs). Volume 1 Fundamentals and performance. Woodhead, Cambridge, UK... 

Coulon R, Bessler W, Franco AA (2010) Modeling chemical degradation of a polymer electrolyte membrane and its impact on fuel cell performance. ECS Trans 25 259-273... 

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