Experimental evaluation of CO poisoning on the performance of a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The influence of impurities in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells performance

“…CO adsorbs strongly on platinum surface, used as electrocatalyst, reducing its activity. A good tolerance (voltage loss within 30-50mV) of a Pt /C catalyst was observed with 3 % and 5 % of CO at 180 ºC, at moderate values of cell voltage [10].…”

“…The effect of CO 2 and especially CO on the performance of HT-PEMFCs was reported by several authors [7][8][9][10][11]. CO adsorbs strongly on platinum surface, used as electrocatalyst, reducing its activity.…”

3D modeling of an HT-PEFC stack using reformate gas

“…To ensure the conservation of charge the total current at anode and cathode has to be equal. Equation (4) gives the current density at the cathode.…”

“…Additionally, CO also adsorbs onto the porous carbon matrix and reduces significantly the rate of surface diffusion of hydrogen to the catalyst sites at higher current densities. Das et al [4] compared the performance of an HT-PEFC at temperatures of 140 C, 160 C and 180 C. They showed that for a CO concentration of 2e5 % an operating temperature of 180 C is required, if only small voltage losses are desired. Furthermore, the electro-oxidation of CO to CO 2 in the presence of water at the catalyst surface was confirmed.…”

Investigating the effects of methanol-water vapor mixture on a PBI-based high temperature PEM fuel cell

“…While CO 2 mainly dilutes the reactants, CO is known to preferentially adsorb on the Pt surface, thereby taking up active catalyst sites and degrading the performance of the cell [10e13]. HT-PEMFCs have come a long way in increasing the tolerance to CO. Das et al [14] found that CO concentrations up to 5% could be tolerated without any fuel cell performance losses, at 180 C, <0.3 A/cm 2 and >0.5 V. This is mainly due to reduced CO adsorption and the removal of adsorbed CO via oxidation at higher temperatures [15,16]. Nevertheless, CO poisoning remains one of the limiting factors of the lifetime of HT-PEMFCs, and hence, crucial for their commercialization.…”