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Degradation of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane under Low Current/Low Humidity Conditions  

Kim, Tae-Hee (Department of Chemical Engineering, Sunchon National University)
Lee, Jung-Hun (Polymer Electrolyte & Fuel Cell Research Group, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Lee, Ho (Department of Chemical Engineering, Sunchon National University)
Lim, Tae-Won (HMC Eco Technology Research Institute)
Park, Kwon-Pil (Department of Chemical Engineering, Sunchon National University)
Publication Information
Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society / v.18, no.2, 2007 , pp. 157-163 More about this Journal
Abstract
During PEMFC operation, low current and low humidity conditions accelerate the degradation of perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. But, there have been no studies that clearly explain why these conditions accelerate the membrane degradation. In this study, the hydrogen permeability through the membrane, I-V polarization of MEA, fluoride emission rate(FER) in effluent water were measured during cell operation under low current densities and low relative humidity(RH). The experimental results were evaluated with oxygen radical mechanism the most commonly known for membrane degradation. It seems that low RH of anode is a good condition for $H{\cdot}$ radical formation on the Pt catalyst and the low current condition accelerates the $H{\cdot}$ to form $HO_2{\cdot}$ radical attacking the polymer membrane.
Keywords
PEMFC; membrane degradation; radical; low current; low humidity;
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