The chemical degradation of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes was studied both in‐situ (during fuel cell operation) and ex‐situ (by Fenton's test). During fuel cell operation, the degradation rate was quantified by monitoring the rate of fluoride release. The rate of degradation was found to be strongly dependent on operating conditions. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to identify degradation products other than fluoride generated during fuel cell operation. Strong similarities were found between the organic fragments generated from both the in‐situ (fuel cell operation) and ex‐situ (Fenton's test) degradation processes. The chemical structure of the fragment is consistent with that of the side chain on the PFSA ionomer used in the experiments. The implications of the existence of this product for the chemical degradation mechanism are discussed.

This paper reports the details of a high-pressure and -temperature in situ transmission infrared reactor cell and experimental approaches for investigation of the nature of adsorbates in CO hydrogenation and NO-CO reaction on Rh/SiO2 catalyst. The infrared cell used in this study allows easy assembling and reliable operation up to 773 K and 6.0 MPa. The structure and coverage of adsorbates during reaction are determined by an infrared spectrometer, and the composition of gaseous effluent from the infrared cell is monitored by a mass spectrometer. The steady-state 13CO step transient shows that gaseous CO rapidly exchanges with adsorbed CO, which is slowly converted to CH4 during CO hydrogenation at 513 K and 0.1 MPa. The pulsing CO study reveals that linear CO is more reactive than bridged CO during methane and CO2 formation, and bridged CO sites are blocked from CO disproportionation. Steady-state 13CO pulse transients show that the CO2 response leads the CO response, and Rh-NCO and Si-NCO are not involved in the formation of CO2 from CO during NO-CO reaction. The advantages and limitations of the in situ infrared and transient approaches for catalysis research will be discussed.

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