Degradation Of Proton Exchange Membrane Research Articles

Similarities and differences between internal short-circuit current and hydrogen crossover current in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The proton exchange membrane (PEM) is the core component of PEM fuel cells and plays an important role in isolating gases and electrons during operation; however, PEMs inevitably encounter degradation problems during operation, resulting in weakening or failure of their core functions, thus leading to safety and service life issues. The PEM degradation produces hydrogen crossover and internal short circuit (ISC) currents, which have similar characteristics. Consequently, it is challenging to estimate these two currents and establish a connection between ex situ parameters and actual operation. The safe use of PEM fuel cells requires a distinction between the characteristics of both current types and their generation mechanisms. Our experimental results show that the hydrogen crossover current caused by pinholes during fuel cell operation is influenced by anode overpressure and hydrogen diffuses upon reaching the cathode side of the fuel cell. Meanwhile, the ISC current is influenced by the electrode potential during ex situ testing and fuel cell operation. Compared with the hydrogen crossover current, the efficiency loss due to the ISC current is the “fastest path” because of both currents have different reaction paths. X-ray computed tomography analyses are consistent with the results of the electrochemical tests.

Recovery characteristics of reversible degradation for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack under accelerated stress test

The reversible degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) restricts the high efficiency and long-term durability of fuel cells. The reversible loss, restorable only through specific procedures, significantly diminishes both the operational efficiency and the predictability of their remaining service life. Consequently, it is imperative to elucidate the recovery characteristics of reversible loss in high power PEMFC stacks for engineering applications. However, most of the studies focus on small-area single cells or short stacks, researches on the full-size stacks considering the uniformity and consistency differences are scarce. The recovery characteristics of high-power PEMFC stacks remain unclear. Therefore, in this work, an accelerated stress test with the idle and rated currents as the boundary of the cyclic condition was designed for a 100 kW PEMFC stack to investigate the recovery characteristics. The periodic voltage fluctuations along with the shutdown operations indicate that the voltage recovery may be caused by the redistribution of water content within the stack, and the reversible degradation is more pronounced and readily reversible under the high current condition. The impedance results suggest that the redistribution of water within the catalyst layer takes longer compared to that in the membrane. Furthermore, analyses of single cell voltage indicate that the consistency of voltage recovery is more closely related to variations of water content within the catalyst layer. Cells with higher water content exhibit better voltage recovery.

A Review of Proton Exchange Membrane Degradation Pathways, Mechanisms, and Mitigation Strategies in a Fuel Cell

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have the potential to tackle major challenges associated with fossil fuel-sourced energy consumption. Nafion, a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane that has high proton conductivity and good chemical stability, is a standard proton exchange membrane (PEM) used in PEMFCs. However, PEM degradation is one of the significant issues in the long-term operation of PEMFCs. Membrane degradation can lead to a decrease in the performance and the lifespan of PEMFCs. The membrane can degrade through chemical, mechanical, and thermal pathways. This paper reviews the different causes of all three routes of PFSA degradation, underlying mechanisms, their effects, and mitigation strategies. A better understanding of different degradation pathways and mechanisms is valuable in producing robust fuel cell membranes. Hence, the progress in membrane fabrication for PEMFC application is also explored and summarized.

A Data-Driven Prediction Method for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Degradation

This paper proposes a long short-term memory (LSTM) network to predict the power degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and in order to promote the performance of the LSTM network, the ant colony algorithm (ACO) is introduced to optimize the hyperparameters of the LSTM network. First, the degradation mechanism of PEMFCs is analyzed. Second, the ACO algorithm is used to set the learning rate and dropout probability of the LSTM network combined with partial aging data, which can show the characteristics of the dataset. After that, the aging prediction model is built by using the LSTM and ACO (ACO-LSTM) method. Moreover, the convergence of the method is verified with previous studies. Finally, the fuel cell aging data provided by the Xiangyang Da’an Automotive Testing Center are used for verification. The results show that, compared with the traditional LSTM network, ACO-LSTM can predict the aging process of PEMFCs more accurately, and its prediction accuracy is improved by about 35%, especially when the training data are less. At the same time, the performance of the model trained by ACO-LSTM is also excellent under other operating conditions of the same fuel cell, and it has strong versatility.

Empirical Degradation Models of the Different Indexes of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Based on the Component Degradation

To describe the degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), empirical degradation models of different indexes of PEMFCs are established. Firstly, the simulation process and assumptions of PEMFC degradation are proposed. Secondly, the degradation simulation results including the performance and distribution indexes under the different degradation levels are conducted by AVL FIRE M. Finally, the empirical degradation models of performance and distribution indexes are established based on the above simulation results and experimental data. The results show that the relationship between the experimental and simulation results is established by the index of current density. The empirical degradation models of current density, average equilibrium potential on the cathode catalyst layer (CL), average membrane water content, average oxygen molar concentration on the cathode CL, and average hydrogen crossover flux are the linear function. The empirical degradation models of average exchange current density on the anode CL, average hydrogen molar concentration on the anode CL, and average oxygen crossover flux are the quadratic function. The empirical degradation model of average activation overpotential on the cathode CL is the quintic function.

Elucidating mechanistic background of the origin and rates of peroxide formation in low temperature proton exchange fuel cells

Degradation of electrode-membrane assembly of the low-temperature hydrogen fuel cells represents one of the main obstacles in wider adoption of these clean and efficient electrochemical sources of electrical energy. Chemical degradation of proton exchange membrane is initiated by hydrogen peroxide formation, which forms in the fuel cell as a by-product to water in oxygen reduction reaction and decomposes to reactive radical species, damaging to the membrane chemical structure. Depending on the operating conditions of the fuel cell, the source of hydrogen peroxide can be either cathode, anode, or, as we argue in the paper, also the Pt particles in the membrane, which originate from the cathode catalyst dissolution, diffusion into the membrane and redeposition of Pt ions inside the membrane. In the paper we propose a mathematical model of intertwined physical processes in membrane and catalyst layer, aimed at unifying the description of hydrogen peroxide formation throughout entire membrane-electrode assembly at any fuel cell operating conditions. The model results, compared to experimental data, indicate that Pt particles inside the membrane can indeed be an important source of hydrogen peroxide in aged fuel cells. For a fresh fuel cell, numerical simulation using proposed model show that hydrogen peroxide can be formed at either cathode or anode, depending on the fuel cell operating condition, but with anode production being more prominent in standard fuel cell operating conditions.

The poisoning effects of Ti-ion from porous transport layers on the membrane electrode assembly of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers

The performance degradation of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers has posed a challenge for their commercial applications. Herein, the long-term performance of a PEM electrolyzer with a sintered titanium fiber felt as the porous transport layer (PTL) at the anode side has been examined. The distribution of relaxation times (DRT) calculation reveals that the degradations mainly come from the increased ohmic resistance and polarization resistances related to proton transfer and charge transfer at the cathode. For the first time, Ti-ion has been found to accumulate in the cathode catalyst layer, as a result of Ti-PTL corrosion at the anode and subsequent Ti-ion migration under the electric field. After continuously removing the foreign ions in the water loop with ion-exchange resin, the degradation rate decreased by 71%. On the other hand, the increase in anode potential is primarily attributed to the rise in contact resistance of the Ti-PTL. The anode performance has almost fully recovered after the installation of a new Ti-PTL.

A novel strategy for accelerating degradation of proton exchange membranes in fuel cell

Conventional proton exchange membrane (PEM) durability testing takes thousands of hours, which is consuming and costly. The development of a suitable accelerated aging strategy for PEM is essential for its durability research. In this work, we proposed and verified electron beam as an accelerated decay method to investigate the degradation of PEM. This solution is hundreds of times faster than in-duty durability testing. The results showed that different equivalents of radiation have different effects on the attenuation of PEM, which corresponds to different stage of the duty decay of PEM. As the irradiation dose gradually increases, the open-circuit voltage of the corresponding cell gradually decreases and the amount of hydrogen seepage gradually increases, which is the same phenomenon as the duty degradation of the PEM. The Pearson correlation coefficient was adopted to correlate accelerated decay data with duty decay data, the results exhibited that the correlation coefficient is close to 1 (0.9169457), with a high degree of correlation. This indicates that the electron beam accelerated decay of PEM has a very high similarity to the duty decay. Therefore, this accelerated decay scheme has great promise for highly durable PEM studies.

Experimental study of the performance degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell based on a multi-module stack under selected load profiles by clustering algorithm

In order to investigate the impact of actual vehicle conditions on the durability of fuel cell, the hierarchical clustering algorithm is used to select two representative driving cycles, which are urban driving cycle and expressway driving cycle. Then a durability test is performed under two dynamic conditions and one steady-state condition. This study chooses a newly designed fuel cell with four modules which can be applied different loading conditions simultaneously. It ensures operating conditions of each module are consistent during the experiment. Eventually, the polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and voltage are measured as health assessment indexes. The degradation of different modules can be compared more precisely by above methods. The results show that the fuel cells have the fastest performance degradation under urban driving cycle, followed by expressway driving cycle, finally steady-state condition. There is a certain time threshold, ohmic and activation resistance has a significant increase and fuel cell has a significant performance degradation after it, the severe driving conditions cause it to be advanced. Otherwise, the voltage degrades faster at high currents by extracting the voltage at different currents. The voltage degradation percentages of module 1 and 2 at 40A both exceed the threshold of 10%.

Tolerance of membrane with additive to iron contamination in PEM fuel cell

Contamination is one major contributor to the degradation of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance and lifetime. Aiming to evaluate the tolerance of PEM doped with radical scavenger additives to metal ions contamination, iron (Fe) ion was selected in this work as a representative of impurities that could come from current metal bipolar plates and directly introduced into the membrane. It has been found that the membrane additives could not only provide durability benefits but also enhance Fe3+ contamination tolerance without any performance loss. These scientific findings provide valuable guidelines for membrane developers and PEM fuel cell manufacturers on quality control (QC) considerations during the production of fuel cell components.

Corrosion behaviors of multilayer C/Cr/SS bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells under dynamic potential polarization based on New European Driving Cycle

The New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) induces remarkable degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The long-term cyclic dynamic potential polarizations based on NEDC with four different Epeak are investigated on the multilayer C/Cr coated SS316L (C/Cr/SS) bipolar plates. C/Cr/SS achieves superior small ICRs and low corrosion rate with Epeak up to 1.12 V, demonstrating great potential for commercial applications. However, mild local corrosion occurs at 1.16 V and accelerates at 1.22 V, resulted by the dissolution initiated at the heterogeneous interface. The present work offers new insights into NEDC-based potential polarization induced degradation on C/Cr/SS.

Enhancing Voltage Reversal Tolerance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells by Tuning the Microstructure of IrOx Catalysts.

Voltage reversal of proton exchange membrane fuel cells caused by hydrogen deficiency seriously deteriorates the anodes and lowers their performance and lifetime. A commonly used method is to add oxygen evolution reaction catalysts (e.g., IrO2) to the anode to extend the water electrolysis plateau against harmful carbon corrosion. Herein, strongly connected IrOx nanoparticles (SC-IrOx) are prepared by removing the low surface area carbon carrier of the as-synthesized Ir/C catalyst. The reversal-tolerant anode with SC-IrOx owns an anti-reversal time of 9.32 h, which is 3.2 and 4.4 times that of the reversal-tolerant anode with commercial IrOx and weakly connected IrOx, respectively. Further transmission electron microscope characterizations reveal that SC-IrOx can construct a stable electron and proton transport pathway in the anode catalyst layer, which can delay the isolation of oxygen evolution reaction catalyst from the electron and proton conducting network, thus extending the water electrolysis plateau. Herein, our findings suggest that tuning the microstructures of IrOx catalysts is indeed an effective and promising approach to extend the water electrolysis plateau and alleviate the performance degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells during the voltage reversal process.

Cold start degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Dynamic and mechanism

Improving the durability of cold start is essential for commercializing proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). This study focuses on the degradation mechanism of cold start. For the first time, through applying segmented print circuit board technology and local characterizations, the degradation behavior of cold start is analyzed in combination with the dynamic response during cold start. The degradation mechanism is built from macroscopic to microscopic. The results show that cell performance and uniformity of the current density distribution are severely degraded after 30 cold start failures. Local current density tests exhibit that during failed cold start, the current is first generated downstream of the cathode. Most of the current is generated before the failing of the cold start, suggesting non-uniform in-plane ice distribution in the catalyst layer. Local electrochemical and physical characterization in the downstream, middle and upstream regions demonstrate the most serious degradation in the downstream region. In contrast, there is a slight degradation in the middle and upstream regions, illustrating the non-uniform degradation distribution during failed cold start. Meanwhile, local physical characterization indicates that freezing-induced crack formation, Pt particle growth, and ionomer agglomeration in the catalyst layer are the root causes of the freezing damage. Through comprehensive characterization, the degradation mechanism of cold start is investigated more profoundly, which is conducive to understanding the cold start process.

Study on the degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell under load cycling conditions

In order to study the changing regularity of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance in the aging process under load cycling condition and improve the durability of fuel cell, the orthogonal experiment method was introduced. In this paper, three-factor and three-level orthogonal experiments were set up to study the influence of upper potential limit (UPL), lower potential limit (LPL) and period of the load cycle on the degradation rate of fuel cell. The test results show that under variable load cycling conditions, the fuel cell performance decays first fast and then slowly. The degradation rate after hundreds of hours of load cycling experiment is usually less than 50% of that of the fresh fuel cell. The dominant factor which effect the degradation mostly significantly changes during the whole aging process. According to the influence degree of three factors on performance degradation rate, the degradation process can be divided into three stages: the UPL dominating stage, the LPL dominating stage and the slow decay stage. In order to mitigate the performance degradation, the UPL in the optimal combination should be as low as possible at all the three stages. The optimized parameters can reduce the degradation rate by more than 50%. The load cycling condition should be avoided at the initial stage after the fuel cell is put into use. And the lifespan of aged fuel cell because of loading cycling can be prolonged through work more under the conditions which will not lead to serious activation potential loss and ECSA loss.

Modeling-based analytics of degradation behavior for fuel cell stack under actual dynamic ambient temperature

Ambient temperature is one of the main factors of the performance degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack. In order to investigate the degradation behavior and mechanism of fuel cell stack, a long-term durability test under actual dynamic ambient temperature is conducted for a 5 kW stack. After the 470 h operation, the main cause of degradation of the stack is derived from the catalyst layer deterioration under the designed operating conditions. Furthermore, the degradation can be revealed by the decline of charge transfer coefficient by polarization curves and impendence results. To evaluate the degradation under dynamic conditions, a semi-empirical model coupled with the relative humidity affected by ambient temperature is proposed based on the overpotential difference between two current densities. The evolution of charge transfer coefficient is investigated to analyze the fuel cell stack degradation based on the fitting of experimental data. The results show a 40 % decline of charge transfer coefficient after the durability test and the decline is near linear in the time domain under the test conditions.

Impregnation methods for quantitative analyses of the gas diffusion layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Microstructural analysis is central to understand and predict the performance and degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) materials. Advanced electron and x-ray 3-D microscopy methods are needed to characterize the reticulate structures forming the catalyst, gas diffusion layer/ microporous layers. The high-throughput dual beam scanning electron microscope allows the 3-D imaging of such layers with a spatial resolution in the range of a few nm. However, for accurate quantitative analyses, impregnation of the porous sample is required to mitigate artefacts due to milling and pore-through effect, and provide sufficient contrast between the material phases for image segmentation. This study investigates an impregnation method based upon the addition of Cobalt (II) acetylacetonate nanoparticles in an epoxy polymer resin. The results were compared with conventional methods using commercial resins stereology on sections polished by focused ion beam (FIB). The results indicate the appropriateness of the newly proposed method, providing adequate contrast for accurate image segmentation. An Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was included to obtain an information about the composition, which can be used for further improvements of the resin.

Mathematical Model of Hydrogen Peroxide Production in Anode, Cathode, and Membrane of LT-PEMFC

Degradation of proton exchange membrane in low-temperature fuel cells represents one of the main limiting factors for wider adoption of this clean, carbon emission free energy device. In combination with mechanical degradation caused by membrane swelling and shrinkage during water content change, chemical degradation of the membrane is considered to be the main mechanism leading to loss of membrane conductivity, membrane thinning and eventual pinhole formation.Chemical degradation is caused by the attack of reactive radical species on the perfluorinated polymer chains of the membrane, which are formed in Fenton reaction between hydrogen peroxide and ions of transition metals, which are inevitably present in the membrane in small traces. Since the metal ions are recycled in Fenton reactions, the rate of chemical degradation is mainly determined by the production of hydrogen peroxide, formed as a side product to water in reaction between oxygen and protons in the fuel cell. [1]The source of hydrogen peroxide production in low-temperature fuel cells have long been debated in scientific literature. On one hand, the abundance of oxygen in the cathode suggest that the production takes place there, but high local electric potential strongly promotes 4-electron reaction, forming water, over 2-electron reaction required for production of hydrogen peroxide [2]. The conditions in the anode are reversed, low electric potential is well suited for peroxide production, but the concentration of oxygen, present in the anode due to diffusion through the membrane, is in general expected to be quite low, making it a rate limiting factor for the peroxide production in the anode. The last possible source of hydrogen peroxide is closely related to the degradation of platinum (Pt) catalyst in the cathode. When Pt catalyst nanoparticles dissolve due to high local electric potential on the cathode, part of the dissolved ions diffuses into the membrane, where it is reduced by counter-diffusing hydrogen from the anode. These Pt particles in the membrane, the so-called Pt band, serve as a catalyst for the reaction between diffusing oxygen from cathode and hydrogen in anode. Since these particles are not electrically connected to either anode or cathode, their electric potential is determined by the rates of oxygen reduction and hydrogen oxidation on their surface, which result in production of water and potentially also hydrogen peroxide.The complex interplay between the processes determining the peroxide production, explained above, suggest that different sources of peroxide might be relevant in different fuel cell operation conditions and at different states of health of the fuel cell. To explore this question quantitatively, we propose a mathematical model of peroxide production which describes physical and electrochemical processes for hydrogen peroxide production in fuel cell catalysts and the membrane, relevant for hydrogen peroxide production: oxygen and hydrogen diffusion in the membrane, electrochemical oxygen reduction in the cathode, anode and on Pt band inside membrane, hydrogen oxidation on Pt band and electric charging of Pt particles in the band due to electrochemical reactions on their surface. To provide realistic internal states of the fuel cell during operation, the model is coupled with advanced spatially and temporally resolved model of the fuel cell operation. [3]Preliminary results of the model indicate that main source of peroxide production depends on the fuel cell operating conditions. In fresh fuel cell, where Pt band in membrane is not yet formed, low current densities and high fuel cell voltages promote the peroxide formation mainly on the anode from the diffused oxygen, while at high current densities the electric potential on the cathode is low enough to allow for significant peroxide production there, outweighing the production on the anode. The formation of the Pt band shifts the production of peroxide from anode to the Pt particles in the band, since large amount of the oxygen is consumed there and therefore its diffusion to the anode is reduced.The results indicate that the question of where the peroxide is formed cannot be resolved by a single answer and that the use of sufficiently complex models, coupling physical and electrochemical processes in different fuel cell components, are required to properly manage fuel cell operation in order to avoid or at least mitigate its detrimental effects of chemical membrane degradation.[1] Frühwirt, P., Kregar, A., Törring, J. T., Katrašnik, T., Gescheidt, G. (2020). Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 22(10), 5647–5666.[2] Sethuraman, V. A., Weidner, J. W., Haug, A. T., Motupally, S., Protsailo, L. V. (2008). Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 155(1), B50.[3] Kregar, A., Tavčar, G., Kravos, A., Katrašnik, T. (2020). Applied Energy, 263(March), 114547.

Investigation and Quantification of Irreversible Degradations and Their Sensitivities during the Start-up Phases of PEMFC By an Accelerated Emulation Approach

In automotive application, frequent Start-up/Shut-down (SU/SD) phases of PEMFC system are prone to cause severe degrading conditions. Many studies have been achieved over the past decades to better understand and to mitigate MEA aging and performance decay due to the well-identified reverse current mechanism1. Indeed, the H2|Air front during H2 injection at the air-filled anode creates two sub-cells: H2/Air sub-cell operating in Fuel Cell mode and Air/Air sub-cell operating in Electrolysis Cell mode. This second sub-cell is subjected to high potential at cathodic side (about 1.6 V vs RHE), leading to harsh corrosion of both Pt nanoparticles and carbon support within the cathode catalyst layer. Two main mitigating solutions are generally proposed in the literature: (i) development of more stable materials and (ii) improvement of system control 2,3. Experimental DOE AST4 is usually performed only on small single cell to evaluate MEA component durability. Nevertheless, these tests cannot be fully correlated with real automotive operating conditions to predict PEMFC stack lifetime.In this work, more realistic AST protocols in regard to PEMFC stack/system configuration during start-up phase are proposed. Our experimental approach consists in emulating a representative transient cathodic potential profile (Figure a and b) during the H2|Air front formation and propagation along anodic channel using a 100 cm² single cell with a real stack active area design5. A comprehensive investigation and quantification of degradations caused by reverse current was carried out under SU cycling. Additional sensitivity study on the main operating parameters (potential profile, relative humidity and temperature) was performed to evaluate their respective impact on the cathode degradation and the performance losses. Periodic measurements such as polarization curves and cyclic voltammetry (Figure c) are coupled with CO/CO2 gas emission analysis (Figure d) during cycling at cathode to monitor and quantify the physical and electrochemical modifications within the MEA during our aging SU cycles.On the whole, this original experimental study proposes an overall degradation mechanism and these results are compared with model prediction to validate the most impactful parameters during reverse current phases at the real cell size and design. Ultimately, it will provide key-data to propose and optimize finely different mitigation strategies to be used in PEMFC stack and systems. References Reiser, C. A. et al. A reverse-current decay mechanism for fuel cells. Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters 8, A273–A276 (2005).Zhang, T., Wang, P., Chen, H. & Pei, P. A review of automotive proton exchange membrane fuel cell degradation under start-stop operating condition. Applied Energy 223, 249–262 (2018).Yu, Y. et al. A review on performance degradation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells during startup and shutdown processes: Causes, consequences, and mitigation strategies. Journal of Power Sources 205, 10–23 (2012).Fuel Cell Tech Team Accelerated Stress Test and Polarization Curve Protocols for PEM Fuel Cells. Energy.gov https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/downloads/fuel-cell-tech-team-accelerated-stress-test-and-polarization-curve.Randrianarizafy, B. Multi-physics modeling of startup and shutdown of a PEM fuel cell and study of the carbon support degradation : mitigation strategies and design optimization. (Université Grenoble Alpes, 2018). Figure 1

Research Progress of Proton Exchange Membrane Failure and Mitigation Strategies.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) is critical for the efficient, reliable and safe operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The lifetime of PEM is the main factor restricting the commercialization of PEMFC. The complexity of operating conditions, such as open-circuit/idling, dynamic load and startup-shutdown under automotive conditions, on PEMFC will cause the mechanical and chemical degradation of PEM and affect the service life of PEMFC. In order to understand the degradation behavior and durability of PEM, this paper presents an overview of the degradation failure mechanism and mitigation strategies of PEM. The mechanical and chemical degradation behavior of PEM and its causes, as well as the mitigation strategies are discussed in order to give a direction for PEM design and fuel cell system control strategy. It is proposed as a primary principle in order to further develop and promote the durability of PEM, to focus on the material improvement and system engineering.

A novel work-flow to study Ir electrode thinning and dissolution in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers

In this work, a new workflow to analyze the structural degradation of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis catalyst coated membrane (CCM) was developed, utilizing a unique cryo-microtomy sample preparation method, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, and a semi-automatic image analytics approach. This workflow is used to demonstrate how an iridium based Ir-NanoStructured Thin Film (Ir-NSTF) oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst/electrode degrades over time at various applied currents and show that iridium interpenetrates into the perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) PEM, suggestive of degradation mechanism involving iridium dissolution. The utilization of this workflow in future degradation and lifetime measurements is discussed in detail.