Influence of toluene contamination at the hydrogen Pt/C anode in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Kortsdottir, Katrin; Lindström, Rakel Wreland; Åkermark, Torbjörn; Lindbergh, Göran

doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2009.11.048

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The influence of humidity is rather small on the adsorption and oxidation of ethene. In agreement with CO [35,36], CO 2 [37] and toluene [5] a higher level of humidity results in a small negative shift in the oxidation peak potential. The relative humidity affects the system in two ways.…”

Section: Effect Of Temperature and Humiditysupporting

confidence: 72%

“…In order to optimise the cleaning steps for reformate-hydrogen, it is important to investigate the effects of these impurities. We have previously studied the effect of toluene, chosen as a representative for aromatic compounds, as an impurity in hydrogen gas [5]. That study indicated that even though concentrations of about 100 ppm of toluene caused no immediate problems to the performance of the fuel cell, prolonged exposure times resulted in a reordering of the adsorbed layer into a more strongly bound species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This study is a continuation of our previous study on toluene as a representative of aromatic hydrocarbons [5], where ethene serves as a representative of unsaturated hydrocarbons as impurities in the anode gas flow of a PEM fuel cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The influence of ethene impurities in the gas feed of a PEM fuel cell

Kortsdottir

Lindström

Lindbergh

2013

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Effect Of Temperature and Humiditysupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The influence of ethene impurities in the gas feed of a PEM fuel cell

Kortsdottir

Lindström

Lindbergh

2013

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In addition, various research groups have examined the impact of aromatic contaminants and environmentally common anionic and cationic species. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Additional studies have investigated the performance impact of foreign metal ions (e.g. Fe 3+ , Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ , Cr 3+ , Al 3+ and Co 2+ ), originating from the bipolar plates and catalyst layer.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Degradation Products on Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity for Platinum Electrocatalysts

Christ

Neyerlin

Richards

et al. 2014

J. Electrochem. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The impact of model membrane degradation compounds on the relevant electrochemical parameters for the oxygen reduction reaction (i.e. electrochemical surface area and catalytic activity), was studied for both polycrystalline Pt and carbon supported Pt electrocatalysts. Model compounds, representing previously published, experimentally determined polymer electrolyte membrane degradation products, were in the form of perfluorinated organic acids that contained combinations of carboxylic and/or sulfonic acid functionality. Perfluorinated carboxylic acids of carbon chain length C1 -C6 were found to have an impact on electrochemical surface area (ECA). The longest chain length acid also hindered the observed oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance, resulting in a 17% loss in kinetic current (determined at 0.9 V). Model compounds containing sulfonic acid functional groups alone did not show an effect on Pt ECA or ORR activity. Greater than a 44% loss in ORR activity at 0.9 V was observed for diacid model compounds DA-Naf (perfluoro(2-methyl-3-oxa-5-sulfonic pentanoic) acid) and DA-3M (perfluoro(4-sulfonic butanoic) acid), which contained both sulfonic and carboxylic acid functionalities. While there has been a concerted effort to develop membranes and electrocatalysts that significantly improve the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), systematic studies on the magnitude and mechanism of electrocatalyst performance degradation due to contaminants arising from system components have been less prevalent. With a Department of Energy 2017 target of less than 10% voltage degradation over 5000 hours of automotive fuel cell performance, and a 2013 status of 3600 hours, improvement in the area of durability is still required.1 Air, fuel, and system derived chemical contaminants can contribute to irreversible performance loss. However, due to the fact that many factors can affect durability in a fuel cell system, it is difficult to relate the performance loss to the degradation of specific component(s). And failure mechanisms are not well understood. 2Numerous studies focusing on the performance impact of impurities found in the anode fuel stream (e.g. CO, CO 2 , H 2 S, NH 3 , CH 4 and HCOOH), as well as common airborne contaminants present in the cathode stream (e.g. SO x and NO x ) have been conducted. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In addition, various research groups have examined the impact of aromatic contaminants and environmentally common anionic and cationic species. and Co 2+ ), originating from the bipolar plates and catalyst layer. 19-25Results of these studies show, in many cases, severe effects on fuel cell performance due in large to anion adsorption and irreversible chemisorption of poisoning compounds on the catalyst layer, as well as foreign cation uptake in the membrane. More recently, an investigation of species originating from balance of plant (BOP) components (e.g. structural materials and assembly aids) has shown fuel cell performance loss due to additives and other compoun...

show abstract

“…13,14 The experimental setup was identical to that used in a previous study, 14 with a cell housing from ElectroChem, Inc connected to a PAR potentiostat. The MEA was activated according to the previously described procedure, 13,14 except for the adjustment of the higher potential limit in the case of PtRu from 1.2 to 0.9 V, to avoid Ru oxidation and subsequent dissolution and loss of catalyst.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Hydrogen and Operation Conditions on CO2 Adsorption on Pt and PtRu Catalyst in a PEMFC

Kortsdottir¹,

Domínguez²,

Lindström³

2013

ECS Electrochemistry Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

CO 2 is a major component in reformate gas and can, as a source of CO, be a catalyst poison in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The effect of CO 2 on cell performance is not fully understood in the presence of hydrogen. This paper addresses the influence of hydrogen on CO 2 adsorption on Pt/C and PtRu/C catalysts. The results show that the reduction and adsorption of CO 2 is slow but increases if hydrogen is present, especially on PtRu/C. Further, exposure to a CO 2 and H 2 mixture at 0.15 V on PtRu/C results in current oscillations, which are dependent on operation conditions. Reformate gas inevitably contains 10-30% CO 2 and traces of CO, even after several purification steps. While numerous studies exist on the influence of CO on fuel cell performance, see reviews 1-3 and references therein, the effect of CO 2 is less studied. Although CO 2 is potentially harmless in a fuel cell, studies have shown 4,5 that 20-25% CO 2 in the hydrogen fuel induces performance losses that cannot be explained by dilution only. It is generally argued that CO 2 is transformed to CO in the fuel cell, due to the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction 4or by an electrochemical reduction mechanism, 6 such asalthough the latter has been questioned due to its low standard potential of −0.2 V. 7 According to thermodynamic calculations the RWGS reaction would give rise to CO concentrations of about 15-100 ppm in equilibrium with a 20-25% CO 2 /H 2 gas mixture 2,8,9 depending on temperature and humidity. However, the moderate effects of CO 2 in operating fuel cells 8,10 indicates that much lower concentrations must be present, presumably due to slow kinetics of both the RWGS reaction 9,11 and the electroreduction of CO 2 8 at PEM fuel cell conditions. Using PtRu as a catalyst instead of Pt has been shown to improve the tolerance of CO 2 in the hydrogen gas, 4,5,9,12 but there is some controversy as to whether it is only due to the improved tolerance to CO,11,12 or if Ru somehow hinders the transformation of CO 2 to CO. 4,9 This study sheds further light on the interplay between hydrogen and CO 2 in a fuel cell both on Pt/C and PtRu/C catalyst and how this is affected by operation conditions, in particular the influence of relative humidity and the presence or absence of H 2 . ExperimentalMembrane electrode assemblies (MEA) were prepared using Tanaka catalysts (TEC10E40E, 36% Pt, and TEC61E54, 29.7% Pt and 23.0% Ru (1:1.5) both on high surface carbon) and N115 membranes, as previously described. 13,14 The experimental setup was identical to that used in a previous study, 14 with a cell housing from ElectroChem, Inc connected to a PAR potentiostat. The MEA was activated according to the previously described procedure, 13,14 except for the adjustment of the higher potential limit in the case of PtRu from 1.2 to 0.9 V, to avoid Ru oxidation and subsequent dissolution and loss of catalyst.As a standard experiment, CO 2 was allowed to enter the cell at a potential hold at 0.15 V for 30 min followed by a 5 min purge with N 2 . These time...

show abstract

Influence of toluene contamination at the hydrogen Pt/C anode in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Cited by 23 publications

References 24 publications

The influence of ethene impurities in the gas feed of a PEM fuel cell

The influence of ethene impurities in the gas feed of a PEM fuel cell

Impact of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Degradation Products on Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity for Platinum Electrocatalysts

Influence of Hydrogen and Operation Conditions on CO2 Adsorption on Pt and PtRu Catalyst in a PEMFC

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About