Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells
Reducing platinum group metal (PGM) usage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is essential for its broad implementation. To ensure the performance of low-PGM-loading PEMFCs, the contact between the flow-field plates and the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is critical. We found the MEA...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524003441 |
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| author | Yuanzhe Ma Xuanyu Wang Ziliang Deng Yongzhen Wang Nanfeng Zheng Kai Han Zipeng Zhao |
| author_facet | Yuanzhe Ma Xuanyu Wang Ziliang Deng Yongzhen Wang Nanfeng Zheng Kai Han Zipeng Zhao |
| author_sort | Yuanzhe Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reducing platinum group metal (PGM) usage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is essential for its broad implementation. To ensure the performance of low-PGM-loading PEMFCs, the contact between the flow-field plates and the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is critical. We found the MEA with lower catalyst loading is more sensitive to the change of contact uniformity, which can be quantified as average contact pressure and proportion of contact area. When the contact pressure distribution becomes less uniform and the average contact pressure between the flow-field ridge and MEA decreases from 1.05 to 0.15 MPa, the MEAs with the PGM loading of 0.100 mg/cm2 and 0.060 mg/cm2 exhibit 7.8 % and 37.8 % power drop at 2.0 A/cm2, respectively. The experimental data is consistent with the theoretical study and can be explained as lower catalyst loading comes along with a lower volume fraction of conductive carbon support and fewer platinum sites, making the electrochemical reaction’s ohmic and mass transfer overpotential more sensitive to the environmental change. More specifically, the theoretical study shows that the MEA with lower loading (0.04 mgPGM/cm2) suffers a more than doubled ohmic overpotential increase compared to the MEA with higher loading (0.12 mgPGM/cm2) when average contact pressure reduces from 0.8 MPa to 0.2 MPa. Also, the lower catalyst loading MEA faces four times more mass transfer overpotential increase when the proportion of contact area reduces from 100 % to 40 %. Our findings suggest that the requirement of mechanical design and manufacturing accuracy of the components should be higher for PEMFC with lower catalyst loading. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8e93ab5030484f95a93802a8ab024238 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2590-1745 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energy Conversion and Management: X |
| spelling | doaj-art-8e93ab5030484f95a93802a8ab0242382025-01-13T04:19:09ZengElsevierEnergy Conversion and Management: X2590-17452025-01-0125100866Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cellsYuanzhe Ma0Xuanyu Wang1Ziliang Deng2Yongzhen Wang3Nanfeng Zheng4Kai Han5Zipeng Zhao6Beijing Key Laboratory of Construction Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green Applications, Experimental Center of Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaNational Key Laboratory of Science and Technology On Multi-perch Vehicle Driving Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Construction Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green Applications, Experimental Center of Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaNational Key Laboratory of Science and Technology On Multi-perch Vehicle Driving Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaState Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China; Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM), Xiamen 361005, ChinaNational Key Laboratory of Science and Technology On Multi-perch Vehicle Driving Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing Innovation Center, Chongqing 401120, China; Corresponding authors.Beijing Key Laboratory of Construction Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green Applications, Experimental Center of Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Corresponding authors.Reducing platinum group metal (PGM) usage in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is essential for its broad implementation. To ensure the performance of low-PGM-loading PEMFCs, the contact between the flow-field plates and the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is critical. We found the MEA with lower catalyst loading is more sensitive to the change of contact uniformity, which can be quantified as average contact pressure and proportion of contact area. When the contact pressure distribution becomes less uniform and the average contact pressure between the flow-field ridge and MEA decreases from 1.05 to 0.15 MPa, the MEAs with the PGM loading of 0.100 mg/cm2 and 0.060 mg/cm2 exhibit 7.8 % and 37.8 % power drop at 2.0 A/cm2, respectively. The experimental data is consistent with the theoretical study and can be explained as lower catalyst loading comes along with a lower volume fraction of conductive carbon support and fewer platinum sites, making the electrochemical reaction’s ohmic and mass transfer overpotential more sensitive to the environmental change. More specifically, the theoretical study shows that the MEA with lower loading (0.04 mgPGM/cm2) suffers a more than doubled ohmic overpotential increase compared to the MEA with higher loading (0.12 mgPGM/cm2) when average contact pressure reduces from 0.8 MPa to 0.2 MPa. Also, the lower catalyst loading MEA faces four times more mass transfer overpotential increase when the proportion of contact area reduces from 100 % to 40 %. Our findings suggest that the requirement of mechanical design and manufacturing accuracy of the components should be higher for PEMFC with lower catalyst loading.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524003441Fuel cellContact pressure distributionLow-catalyst-loading MEA |
| spellingShingle | Yuanzhe Ma Xuanyu Wang Ziliang Deng Yongzhen Wang Nanfeng Zheng Kai Han Zipeng Zhao Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells Energy Conversion and Management: X Fuel cell Contact pressure distribution Low-catalyst-loading MEA |
| title | Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells |
| title_full | Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells |
| title_fullStr | Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells |
| title_short | Amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low-catalyst-loading fuel cells |
| title_sort | amplified impact of contact uniformity on the performance of low catalyst loading fuel cells |
| topic | Fuel cell Contact pressure distribution Low-catalyst-loading MEA |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524003441 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yuanzhema amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT xuanyuwang amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT ziliangdeng amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT yongzhenwang amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT nanfengzheng amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT kaihan amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells AT zipengzhao amplifiedimpactofcontactuniformityontheperformanceoflowcatalystloadingfuelcells |