Abstract
The effect of Calcium ion on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was studied. The calcium hydroxide solutions were applied directly to the anode of the cell to soak GORETM PRIMEA® membrane electrode assembly (MEA) in situ when there was no load applied to PEMFC. During operation, the performance decreased when the calcium solution was applied repeatedly, or when the concentration or soaking time of calcium solution was increased. With EPMA (Electro probe micro analysis) technique, no calcium was observed in the gas diffusion layers. Calcium mainly accumulated in the membrane and less amount of calcium accumulated in both anode and cathode catalyst layers. Those results indicate that calcium was exchanged with proton in the membrane and catalyst layers by an ion exchange reaction of calcium and sulfonic group in MEA, and that the performance decreased by this ion exchange reaction.
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