Study on a Long Term Deactivation of Electro-catalysts in PEMFC for Automobile

자동차용 PEMFC 전극 촉매의 열화 원인에 대한 연구

A long term deactivation study was carried out with commercial MEA provided by Hyundai Motor Co. The deactivation phenomena were observed only at high voltage region where there is no diffusion-limited reaction. A rapid deactivation was observed up to 40h owing to the sintering of Pt particles. This was followed a gradual increase in the activity up to 300 h, which is probably caused by improvement in the electrode properties in the presence of current during the reaction. After 300 h, monotonic decrease in the activity was observed owing to dissolution of Pt particles especially in the cathode. The presence oxygen is the cause of oxidation and dissolution of Pt. The dissolution rate can be somewhat retarded by generation of current, which reduces Pt ion back to Pt in the cathode.