Abstract
Material degradation mechanisms of carbon-supported platinum-based electrocatalysts in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are reviewed in the context of automotive applications. Basic and applied research using ex-situ, in-situ, as well as operando techniques show that transient operations such as idling, sitting at open-circuit voltage, load cycling, and startup/shutdown pose significant durability concerns over the state-of-the-art catalysts in the expected lifetime range. High cathode potentials and potential cycling can cause damage to both the catalyst and the carbon support, leading to different degradation mechanisms such as the growth of platinum particles, particle sintering and the loss of platinum into the ionomer phase, as well as carbon-support corrosion. If not mitigated, startup and shutdown are the most damaging transient operations in PEMFC systems, which can cause significant cathode electrode carbon-support corrosion. PEMFC performance decays dramatically when the electrode structure is damaged due to carbon corrosion.
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