Start
Jan 17, 2019 - 17:00
End
Jan 17, 2019 - 18:00
Venue
Room 118 Chemical Engg Dept
Event Type
Speaker
Dr. D.SHANKAR RAMAN GES3 Vancouver
Title
How to test the durability of the fuel cell?
Abstract: Cost and durability are two key issues for the commercialization of the electrochemical energy conversions systems (EECS) such as fuel cells electrolyzers and batteries. The first part of the presentation will focus the need for the EECS to the transportation market decarbonization of the electricity grid strategies to decarbonize the electricity market the components of two power to gas EECS (fuel cell and electrolyser) and its basic characterization methods. Second section will emphasize the degradation protocols and diagnostic tools of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The durability of the PEM fuel cell relies on the performance of the Pt (Platinum) catalyst and its support. Therefore novel experimental methods and empirical model are employed to assess the durability of the PEMFC’s catalyst layer. For the first time a deconvolution method is used to characterize the polarization loss of the catalyst layers in an operating fuel cell. Furthermore the corrosion of the carbon from the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is demonstrated using a simplified mechanistic model. Our model results show good agreement with the real-time experimental data. Finally a derivation of an analytical expression and its validation with the Pt corrosion of the PEMFC are discussed for a single and segmented cell. We have performed 16 Pt corrosion experiments simultaneously in a spatially resolved fuel cell hardware to demonstrate the Pt loss from the MEA for the first time. The results of the experiments are to promote the gradient loading to improve the fuel cell life.