Recent Developments in PAFC

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has also demonstrated improved performances in single cells of 0.65 mV at 300mAcm. Component improvements by Mitsubishi have resulted in the lowest PAFC degradation rate publicly acknowledged, 2 mV per 1000 h for lOOOOh at 200 to 250mAcm in a short stack with 3600 cm area cells. 

Catalyst development is still an important aspect of the PAFC. Transition metal (e.g. iron or cobalt) organic macrocycles have been evaluated as cathode electrocatalysts in 

PAFCs (Bett, 1985). Another approach has been to aUoy Pt with transition metals such as Ti, Cr, V, Zr, and Ta. Johnson Matthey Technology Centre have also obtained a 50% improvement in cathode electrocatalyst performance using platinum alloyed with nickel (Buchanan et al., 1992). Work has been done by Giner Inc. and others to make the anode electrocatalysts more tolerant to carbon monoxide and sulphur. 

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