Investigation of PEMFC Stack Operating at Elevated Temperature

PEMFC operating at elevated temperature has many advantages compared to low temperature PEMFC. With the adoption of short side chain, low EW PFSA membrane, the operating temperature of a 100W stack was elevated to 95 C-degrees to investigate its performance. The stack performance was tested with (1)60% RH air and 70% RH H-2, (2)60% RH air and dry H-2, respectively. The results showed that average cell power density with dry H-2 was 30% lower than that with 70% RH H-2. Furthermore, the cells presented the best uniformity when operating at 85 C-degrees. The stack tolerance to CO at elevated temperature was also investigated with 5ppm, 10ppm and 20ppm CO, respectively. The results demonstrated that elevating the operating temperature to 95 C-degrees could improve the anode catalyst tolerance to CO, and when CO concentration doubled, the performance attenuation rate of stack doubled as well. Copyright Form of EVS25.