Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have been operated simplified without any humidification of the reactant gases, and air. Both thin and thick membranes have been used in testing single cells and one 6-cell stack. Fuel cells used electrodes of areas 25–100 cm2. Electrodes were prepared in-house following a patented procedure. The platinum catalyst loading varied in the range 0.2–4.0 mg.cm−2 for the cathode, and 0.05–2.0 mg.cm−2 for the anode. Such electrodes having additional deposits of Nafion solution were combined with Nafion membranes 112, 115, 117, and 105. The membrane-electrode assemblies were tested in self-humidified fuel cells. Two different modes of fuel cell operation have been used. In one mode, the reactant gases were allowed to exit making only one pass through the cell, in another mode, oxygen gas was recirculated, and hydrogen was kept dead-ended. Recent performance data with low-loading electrodes showed very good performance of self-humidified fuel cells. Short-term stability tests of fuel cells showed reasonably stable behavior.
Simplified proton exchange membrane fuel cells for space and terrestrial applications
Space technology and applications international forum - 1998 ; 1998 ; Albuquerque,New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 420 , 1 ; 679-684
1998-01-15
6 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Simplified Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells for Space and Terrestrial Applications
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