Impact of the temperature on calendar aging of an open cathode fuel cell stack

Abstract

This paper deals with calendar aging of a proton exchange membrane open-cathode fuel cell.Calendar aging is already developed for energy sources as supercapacitor and batteries but the literature is very poor for fuel cell stacks. However, this kind of test is necessary to determine the actual lifetime of the system without running it and to define the aging impact of the storage of such a system. One possible outcome for fuel cells is to provide electricity in remote areas without connection to the grid. This issue becomes even more challenging under hard environmental conditions, especially in areas with possible negative ambient temperatures. Experimental research on the degradation of open cathode fuel cells under these tricky conditions is needed to investigate the impact of resting states on the fuel cell lifetime and to evaluate the impact of the sub-zero temperatures on the performance losses.

Experimental Design of High-Performing Open-Cathode Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

“…4 In open-cathode cells, dry hydrogen is generally fed on the anode side and one or more fans in front of the cells blow ambient air on the cathode side by forced convection. 5 The air blown into the system through the open channels at the cathode not only provides oxygen (O 2 ) for the electrochemical reaction but also cools down the cell and maintains the internal temperature through heat extraction. 6 The need for liquid cooling, air compression, and humidification is thus eliminated in contrast to conventional PEMFCs and the system design is greatly simplified.…”

A Review of Fuel Cell Powertrains for Long-Haul Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Technology, Hydrogen, Energy and Thermal Management Solutions

“…During a cold start from subzero ambient conditions, ice accumulation in various fuel cell layers (membrane, CL, GDL) from the freezing of residual cathode catalyst water of the previous operation can lead to various malfunctions and difficulties. The presence of ice can inhibit the diffusion of reactants, protons and electrons through the MEA assembly and can also cover up the active surface area of the CL causing reduced performance [286]. A decrease in cell voltage and MEA conductivity are experienced by the fuel cell during low-temperature cold starts leading to reduced performance of the FCS at the beginning of the driving mission.…”

Performance analysis of proton exchange membrane fuel cell in automotive applications

“…400 cycles. This could be due to the impact of calendar aging and the drying conditions [24], [25] that lead to non-optimal operating conditions even after a stabilization step at 1A/cm² for 1 hour and a polarization curve. To validate this assumption, two new polarization curves are performed 2 days later and 5 days later, interspersed with start/stop cycles, to observe the performance evolution.…”