Investigation on the reaction area of PEMFC at different position in multiple catalyst layer

By Li, Wenbin; Lin, Rui; Yang, Yue
Published in Electrochimica Acta 2019

Abstract

To study the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at different through-plane position in catalyst layer, a multiple catalyst layer (MCL) was designed in which the reaction area could move from proton exchange membrane (PEM) to gas diffusion layer (GDL). The reaction layer (layer Y) was sandwiched between proton conduct layer (layer X) and air diffusion layer (layer Z) to simulate the real reacting process in an ordinary catalyst layer. Three MEA samples with MCL were made, the reaction area was set near the PEM, in the middle of catalyst layer and near the GDL, respectively. According to the polarization curves, the position of reaction area in catalyst layer has obvious influence on cell performance and the output current at the same working voltage increased when the reaction area moved towards GDL. Besides, how the charge transfer resistance and mass transport resistance of reaction area at different position in CL changed when output current increased has also been studied in this work using EIS. Simulation results about current and proton distribution have also been verified in this work.

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