Abstract
PEFC performance during cationic contamination was studied by in-situ injection of 21.2 ppm level of Ca2+ in the air stream of a segmented cell. As expected, performance varied from the cell inlet to the outlet. During the contaminant injection, segments on the upstream end of the cell were affected first by the contaminant resulting in decreased current. At the same time, current for the other segments increased despite the presence of contaminants in order to maintain constant total current. Due to contamination, cell voltage decreased and fluctuated mainly due to mass transport losses. During this testing, the contaminant was found to precipitate on both the cathode flow field and the surface of the GDL. As the test progressed, the contaminant penetrated into the GDL and deposited, causing mass transport losses. No contaminant was detected inside the CCM. It is seen that the GDL acted as a barrier to the transport of cationic contaminant to the CCM.
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