Experimentally investigation on current density distribution characteristics of hydrogen-oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cells under dynamic loading

Abstract

The performance improvement and mitigate degradation of hydrogen-oxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are of great significance for accelerating the practical application of clean energy and alleviating the energy crisis. In this work, a PEMFC with an active area of 25 cm2 was designed based on multilayer printed circuit board technology for high-resolution current density mapping. The characteristics of uneven distribution of local current density under dynamic loading and its influence on performance degradation are further analyzed. The results show that the uneven density distribution at low current density is caused by membrane dehydration and gas starvation, while at high current density, it is caused by the combined effect of gas starvation, and the uneven current density distribution is even worse at high current density. In addition, oxygen starvation causes more worse uneven density distribution than that of hydrogen starvation, and the lowest current density is concentrated near the cathode outlet. What's more, the uneven distribution of local current density led to serious performance degradation, the performance degradation reached 40.03%, the electrochemical active surface area decreased by 31.87% and charge transfer resistance increased by 22.08%. The scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry show that performance degradation is due to the loss of catalysts, especially near the cathode outlet.