Impact of catalyst layer morphology on the operation of high temperature PEM fuel cells

Bevilacqua N, Asset T, Schmid MA, Markötter H, Manke I, Atanassov P, Zeis R (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Journal of Power Sources Advances Elsevier

Book Volume: 7

Article Number: 100042

DOI: 10.1016/j.powera.2020.100042

Abstract

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a well-established method to analyze a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). However, without further data processing, the impedance spectrum yields only qualitative insight into the mechanism and individual contribution of transport, kinetics, and ohmic losses to the overall fuel cell limitations. The distribution of relaxation times (DRT) method allows quantifying each of these polarization losses and evaluates their contribution to a given electrocatalyst's depreciated performances. We coupled this method with a detailed morphology study to investigate the impact of the 3D-structure on the processes occurring inside a high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC). We tested a platinum catalyst (Pt/C), a platinum-cobalt alloy catalyst (Pt3Co/C), and a platinum group metal-free iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe–N–C) catalyst. We found that the hampered mass transport in the latter is mainly responsible for its low performance in the MEA (along with its decreased intrinsic performances for the ORR reaction). The better performance of the alloy catalyst can be explained by both improved mass transport and a lower ORR resistance. Furthermore, single-cell tests show that the catalyst layer morphology influences the distribution of phosphoric acid during conditioning.

Authors with CRIS profile

Roswitha Zeis

Involved external institutions

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) DE Germany (DE) University of California Irvine US United States (USA) (US) Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Bevilacqua, N., Asset, T., Schmid, M.A., Markötter, H., Manke, I., Atanassov, P., & Zeis, R. (2021). Impact of catalyst layer morphology on the operation of high temperature PEM fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources Advances, 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powera.2020.100042

MLA:

Bevilacqua, N., et al. "Impact of catalyst layer morphology on the operation of high temperature PEM fuel cells." Journal of Power Sources Advances 7 (2021).

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