Diffusive resistance analysis in fuel cells: Part 1. Some theoretical considerations

This work proposes the use of a rigorous approach to the analysis of the fuel-cell diffusive resistances not only at the commercial scale, but also at the laboratory one. The attention used experimentally for checking diffusion resistances in electrodes, cells and stacks should imply the same attention in the corresponding data analysis techniques.     

Fabrication of high strength and a low weight composite bipolar plate for fuel cell applications

The bipolar plate is one of the most important components in a PEM fuel cell. A polymer composite bipolar plate possessing high strength (81 MPa) and high stiffness (20 GPa) has been developed by making use of carbon fiber network in a specific form as the filler component. Such high strength is very much desired, especially when the fuel cells are used for mobile applications, since it is the bipolar plate that provides mechanical support to all the other cell components. The addition of carbon black and the effect of particle size of the natural graphite flakes used as other reinforcements also play a crucial role in controlling the physical and electrical properties of the composite plates. The plate when used in the unit fuel cell assembly showed I–V performance comparable to that of the commercially available bipolar plates.     

The effect of electrode parameters on performance of a phosphoric acid-doped PBI membrane fuel cell

A study of the effect of electrode parameters in a phosphoric acid-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane fuel cell is reported. The influence of phosphoric acid and PBI content are described. High levels of PBI in the catalyst layer did not enhance electrode layer performance for both hydrogen oxidation or oxygen reduction. High levels of doping with phosphoric acid in the anode catalyst layer were beneficial to fuel cell performance. Anode polarisation data confirmed that PBI fuel cells could operate at 175 °C with carbon monoxide contents in the feed gas of 10% in volume. There was an optimum amount of acid doping that gave good performance for oxygen reduction in the cathode layer. The effect of a perfluorinated surfactant improved the oxygen reduction behaviour in the catalyst layer. The carbon in catalyst support and it's interaction with the electrolyte have a large influence on cell performance.     

Chloride contamination effects on proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance and durability

Chlorine is a major fuel contaminant when by-product hydrogen from the chlor-alkali industry is used as the fuel for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Understanding the effects of chlorine contamination on fuel cell performance and durability is essential to address fuel cell applications for the automotive and stationary markets. This paper reports our findings of chloride contamination effects on PEM fuel cell performance and durability, as our first step in understanding the effects of chlorine contamination.Fuel cell contamination tests were conducted by injecting ppm levels of contaminant into the fuel cell from either the fuel stream or the air stream. In situ and ex situ diagnosis were performed to investigate the contamination mechanisms. The results show that cell voltage during chloride contamination is characterized by an initial sudden drop followed by a plateau, regardless of which side the contaminant is introduced into the fuel cell. The drop in cell performance is predominantly due to increased cathode charge transfer resistance as a result of electrochemical catalyst surface area (ECSA) loss attributable to the blocking of active sites by Cl⁻ and enhanced Pt dissolution.     

Optical humidity sensing, proton-conducting sol-gel glass monolith

An integrated, crack-free glass monolith is prepared via a modified sol-gel approach. It has an accessible network of channels consisting of anisotropic pores of widths ca. 20-50 nm and lengths ca. 100-250 nm. The glass monolith exhibits a transparency change based on humidity, which is utilized as a basis for optical humidity measurements. On the other hand, the glass monolith shows high proton conduction in humid atmosphere, and its proton conductivity reaches a value of 0.12 S cm⁻¹ at 30 °C and 80% relative humidity.     

Thermal stress analysis of a planar anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell: Effects of anode porosity

A Fuel cell is a highly efficient device for converting chemical energy in fuels to electrical energy and the electrical efficiency is strongly affected by the porosity in electrodes due to its close couplings with mass transfer and active sites for the electrochemical reactions, which will also cause changes in distribution of thermal stresses inside the electrodes. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach based on the finite element method (FEM) is used to investigate the effects of porosity on polarizations, temperatures and thermal stresses by coupling equations for gas-phase species, heat, momentum, ion and electron transport. It was found that the porosity in the anode remarkably affected the exchange current density and electrical current density, but it had an opposite effect on the anodic activation polarization compared to that in cathode. The first principle stress was enhanced from 0 to 2 MPa to 6–8 MPa by an increased anode porosity from 25% to 40%, and the increased porosity resulted in a decrease of the von mises stress along the main flow direction as well. The conclusions could be used to lay foundations for an improved performance and stabilization by optimizing electrode microstructures and by eliminating the stresses in electrodes.     

Parameter estimation of fuel cell polarization curve using BMO algorithm

Polarization curves of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are affected by various parameters. The relative importance and effect of each parameter on the polarization curve is different. This paper studies estimation of parameters with the most influence on the electrochemical model. In order to evaluate the obtained results, the model accuracy is compared with that model in which all the parameters are estimated. Because PEMFCs parameter estimation is a complex optimization problem, a recently invented nature-inspired algorithm, bird mating optimizer (BMO), is proposed. For this aim, two real systems, the SR-12 Modular PEM Generator and the Ballard Mark V FC, are considered. The obtained results show that when the whole parameters are estimated, the accuracy of the model increases. Also, BMO algorithm yields better results than the other studied methods in terms of precision and robustness.     

Intrinsic and extrinsic compositional effects in ceria/carbonate composite electrolytes for fuel cells

Composite ionic conductors for fuel cells were produced by combination of one ceria-based ceramic electrolyte and various mixtures of Na and Li carbonates, using several processing routes. These materials were characterized by impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance. The chemical composition of the mixed carbonates and the processing route were influential in the development of impressive conductivity levels (close to 0.1 S/cm) at modest temperatures (below 600 °C), suggesting a complex role of chemical composition (Na/Li ratio), phase composition (solid/liquid ratio), processing route (mechanothermal history) and microstructure. Furthermore, exposure to humidity showed formation of OH groups. Such hydrogenated species are believed to increase the complexity of the global surface processes and charge transport mechanisms where several native and foreign species may play a significant role.     

Efficient soft-switched boost converter for fuel cell applications

The dc voltage generated from fuel cell is low in magnitude, unregulated and load dependent. Hence, it is required to be regulated and boosted by high performance dc-dc converter. In this paper, a fully soft-switched pulse-width-modulated dc-dc boost converter has been proposed for fuel cell applications. The proposed converter operates at high switching frequency with high efficiency and large power to volume ratio. A laboratory prototype model of the proposed converter has been designed and fabricated for charging a battery bank at 110 V from a fuel cell stack SR-12 of Avista Lab. The experimental results were found in close agreement with the predicted behavior.     

Blended learning fitting algorithm for polarization curves of fuel cells

Fuel cell polarization curves, characterized by nonlinear models and the parameters of which are time-consuming to be identified, can represent fuel cell performance but will alter as the fuel cell degrades. For getting the information on degradation in time, a less time-consuming and an easily programmed algorithm, based on blended learning technique and linear least square estimation (LSE), is proposed to fit polarization curves obtained from the fuel cell systems. Simulations show that the proposed algorithm, compared with classical nonlinear LSE algorithms, converges much faster, features better extrapolation and less average quadratic error, and is easy to be programmed by C language. Therefore, the algorithm is a good option not only for fitting the polarization curves but also for implementation in embedded systems.     

Nano Ni layered anode for enhanced MCFC performance at reduced operating temperature

Nanoparticles of Ni and Ni–Al₂O₃ were coated on a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) anode by spray method to enlarge the electrochemical reaction sites at triple phase boundaries (TPBs). Both nano Ni coated anode and nano Ni–Al₂O₃ anode exhibited significant reduction of anode polarization, thanks to smaller charge transfer resistance. The maximum power density of nano Ni coated anode was 159 mW cm⁻² at current density of 300 mA cm⁻² operating at 600 °C. This is about 7% increase from the standard cell performance tested and compared in the study. Although low performance of nano coated Ni–Al₂O₃ cell is observed due to electrolyte consumption, the stability of cell performance during operation time is more favorable in MCFCs operation.     

Polarization measurements of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells studied by incorporation of a reference electrode

A three-electrode system configuration was applied to an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell where the anode to cathode surface area ratio was ∼7.9, and Ni/YSZ was used as the anode, LSM as the cathode, Pt as the reference electrode, and thin YSZ film as the electrolyte. The cell was polarized potentiostatically at −0.2, −0.4, −0.6 and −0.8 V versus open circuit voltage (OCV) and the potential change versus a reference electrode were recorded to ascertain the relative electrode polarization contributions. The results of these studies suggested that, while the anode contributions to cell polarization were less significant than that observed for the cathode, they were not negligible. Furthermore, the disparity in the relative electrode polarization contribution was observed to decrease with increasing temperature and polarization. Electrode polarization studies suggested that cathodic overvoltage decreased remarkably with increasing temperature whereas anodic overvoltage increased slightly with increasing temperature. Electrode kinetic parameters were extracted from these polarization experiments and the implications of these parameters to cell performance were discussed. Lastly, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data was presented to further elucidate the relative contributions of the anode and cathode impedances on button cell performance.     

Performance optimization of ultra-low platinum loading membrane electrode assembly prepared by electrostatic spraying

To improve the utilization of platinum and reduce the manufacturing cost of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the electrostatic spraying was used to prepare the cathode catalyst layer of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with platinum loading varying from 0.1 to 0.01 mg cm^?2. The performance of fuel cell was tested and analyzed by electrochemical impedance and polarization curve. Our results show that the platinum carbon (Pt/C) particles deposited by electrostatic spraying were well dispersed and the microporous structure of catalyst layer (CL) were relatively uniform. Replacing the CCS type MEA (catalyst coated on gas diffusion layer substrate) with the CCM type MEA (catalyst coated on proton exchange membrane) can reduce its electrochemical impedance and improve the power density of fuel cell. Compared to the Pt/C catalyst with a platinum mass fraction of 60%, a lower platinum-carbon ratio catalyst is more conducive to the uniform dispersion of catalyst particles and efficient utilization of platinum in the preparation of MEA with ultra-low platinum loading. However, their difference in peak power density decreases with the increase of platinum loading. Besides, increasing the back pressure can improve the performance of fuel cell, when the back pressure increased to 0.15 Mpa and the feeding gases were set as H₂/O₂, the peak power density of 0.56 W cm^?2 was obtained by the MEA with cathode platinum loading of 0.01 mg cm^?2, which is corresponding to the cathode platinum utilization of 56 kW·g_Pt^?1_cathode.     

Understanding the performance degradation of anion-exchange membrane direct ethanol fuel cells

It has recently been demonstrated that anion-exchange membrane direct ethanol fuel cells (AEM DEFCs) can yield a high power density. The operating stability and durability of this type of fuel cell is, however, a concern. In this work, we report the durability test of an AEM DEFC that is composed of a Pd/C anode, an A201 membrane, and a Fe-Co cathode and show that the major voltage loss occurs in the initial discharge stage, but the loss becomes smaller and more stable with the discharge time. It is also found that the irreversible degradation rate of the fuel cell is around 0.02 mV h⁻¹, which is similar to the degradation rate of conventional acid direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The experimental results also reveal that the performance loss of the AEM DEFC is mainly attributed to the anode degradation, while the performance of the cathode and the membrane remains relatively stable. The TEM results indicate that the particle size of the anode catalyst increases from 2.3 to 3.5 nm after the long-term discharge, which reduces the electrochemical active surface area and hence causes a decrease in the anode performance.     

Fuel cells: History and updating. A walk along two centuries

This paper reviews the history of fuel cells. Its follows the path from the invention of the fuel cell up to present days. Fuel cell types as well as their advantages, disadvantages and principal applications nowadays are explained. History teaches once again that devices perceived by the public as recent inventions, are actually the product of many years (almost two centuries in this case) of arduous research.     

Structural and electrochemical characterization of La2−xSrxNiTiO6−δ

Materials of the series La_2−xSr_xNiTiO_6−δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) have been characterized by both structural and electrochemical methods in order to assess their possible use as electrodes for SOFCs. Neutron and X-ray powder diffraction experiments have shown that they are stable under both oxidizing and reducing conditions while chemically compatible with YSZ at SOFC operating temperatures. Moreover, the thermal expansion has been determined to be isotropic with α_L = 10.0(3) × 10⁻⁶ K⁻¹. This value is similar to that found for other perovskite materials used in SOFCs. However, polarization resistances reveal modest values of electrochemical response under oxygen (1.5 Ω cm² at 900 °C) and are quite poor in 5%H₂/N₂ mixtures (15 Ω cm²) at the same temperature. Nevertheless, microstructure has not been optimized fully enough to discard the material as a potential SOFC cathode.     

Hydrogen PEMFC stack performance analysis: A data-driven approach

For low power fuel cells, management of reactants, water and heat, must be realized in a passive fashion in order to minimize parasitic losses. Effective fuel, oxygen supply and water management for reliable performance are also greatly affected by cell geometry and materials. These are complex systems to optimize on a mere experimental basis. As an aid to this goal, data-driven analysis techniques, requiring no a priori mathematical model, are gaining a reputation in other research fields, where phenomenological modeling approaches might be intractable.     

Effects of humidity on Ba0.9Co0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3−δ cathode performance and durability of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) cathode often suffers from degradation resulting from different contaminations, such as water vapor from air, when operated under the realistic environments. In this work, we demonstrate an excellent water vapor tolerant Ba_0.9Co_0.7Fe_0.2Nb_0.1O_3?δ (BCFN) cathode for SOFCs. The concentration effects of humidity on BCFN cathode performance including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics and durability have been studied. The X-ray diffraction measurement indicates that humidity has no observable effects on BCFN materials. The electrochemical performance change in BCFN cathode seems to be more sensitive to the humidity at a lower temperature such as 650 °C than that at 800 °C. A low polarization resistance of 0.069 Ω cm² at 650 °C is obtained in 3% water vapor, and then the polarization resistance increases with increase of water vapor content. Furthermore, the electrochemical impedance spectra indicate that BCFN cathode contaminated by higher humidity can be recovered by purging air again.