TY - JOUR
T1 - Use of a sub-gasket and soft gas diffusion layer to mitigate mechanical degradation of a hydrocarbon membrane for polymer electrolyte fuel cells in wet-dry cycling
AU - Ishikawa, Hiroshi
AU - Teramoto, Takeshi
AU - Ueyama, Yasuhiro
AU - Sugawara, Yasushi
AU - Sakiyama, Yoko
AU - Kusakabe, Masato
AU - Miyatake, Kenji
AU - Uchida, Makoto
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by funds for the “Research on Nanotechnology for High Performance Fuel Cells (HiPer-FC)” and “Superlative, Stable, and Scalable Performance Fuel Cell (SPer-FC)” Project from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - The mechanical durability of hydrocarbon (HC) membranes, used for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), was evaluated by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) stress protocol involving wet-dry cycling, and the degradation mechanism is discussed. The HC membrane ruptured in the edge region of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) after 300 cycles due to a concentration of the mechanical stress. Post-test analysis of stress-strain measurements revealed that the membrane mechanical strain decreased more than 80% in the edge region of the MEA and about 50% in the electrode region, compared with the pristine condition. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) indicated that the average molecular weight of the HC polymer increased slightly, indicating some cross-linking, while the IEC decreased slightly, indicating ionomer degradation. As a result of two types of modifications, a sub-gasket (SG) and a soft gas diffusion layer (GDL) in the MEA edge region, the mechanical stress decreased, and the durability increased, the membrane lasting more than 30,000 cycles without mechanical failure.
AB - The mechanical durability of hydrocarbon (HC) membranes, used for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), was evaluated by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) stress protocol involving wet-dry cycling, and the degradation mechanism is discussed. The HC membrane ruptured in the edge region of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) after 300 cycles due to a concentration of the mechanical stress. Post-test analysis of stress-strain measurements revealed that the membrane mechanical strain decreased more than 80% in the edge region of the MEA and about 50% in the electrode region, compared with the pristine condition. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) indicated that the average molecular weight of the HC polymer increased slightly, indicating some cross-linking, while the IEC decreased slightly, indicating ionomer degradation. As a result of two types of modifications, a sub-gasket (SG) and a soft gas diffusion layer (GDL) in the MEA edge region, the mechanical stress decreased, and the durability increased, the membrane lasting more than 30,000 cycles without mechanical failure.
KW - Durability enhancement
KW - Edge configuration of MEA
KW - Hydrocarbon membrane
KW - Mechanical degradation
KW - Polymer electrolyte fuel cell
KW - Wet-dry cycling
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.06.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84973879637
SN - 0378-7753
VL - 325
SP - 35
EP - 41
JO - Journal of Power Sources
JF - Journal of Power Sources
ER -
