Effects of concentrated CO2 on the performance of a PBI/H3PO4 high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Abstract

In this study, the impact of mimic reformate of formic acid decomposition on the anode polarization of HT-PEMFC is investigated under various operating conditions of the anode, including different concentrations of CO2, N2, CO, and humidification. Polarization curve and EIS measurements indicate that there is no significant difference (less than 5 mV when i < 0.4A/cm2) between the same concentrations of CO2 and N2 up to 75 vol%. No significant poisoning of the anode by CO2 (up to 75 vol%) has been observed, suggesting that the addition of concentrated CO2 acts more as a diluent than a poison. Upon separating the polarization effects, it is found that the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a crucial step limiting the fuel cell performance, with cathodic activation losses reaching as high as 70 % at 0.8A/cm2. However, with 1 vol% CO in a H2/CO2 1/1 mixture, a significant poisoning effect on the fuel cell is observed. DRT (distribution of relaxation times) analyses reveal two peaks related to CO in high-frequency regions above 100 Hz associated with the anode polarization, with the peak integration being five times larger than in pure hydrogen. Humidification doesn't improve the voltage or mitigate CO poisoning. A one-dimensional flux model that includes the anode polarization is developed to analyze the polarizations for both cathode and anode under different concentrations of diluents, well describing the experimental results. When i < 0.8 A/cm2, the predicted values from the model closely match the measured values (within 5–10 mV). Calculations suggest that the anode polarization cannot be ignored, especially when the anode is fed with diluted gases.