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Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system for the application of unmanned aerial vehicles is equipped without humidifiers and the cathode channels of the stack are open to the environment due to limited weight available for power sources. As a result, the PEMFC is operated under low humidi...

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Autores principales: Jienkulsawad, Prathak, Chen, Yong-Song, Arpornwichanop, Amornchai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7564392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32825148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12091865
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author Jienkulsawad, Prathak
Chen, Yong-Song
Arpornwichanop, Amornchai
author_facet Jienkulsawad, Prathak
Chen, Yong-Song
Arpornwichanop, Amornchai
author_sort Jienkulsawad, Prathak
collection PubMed
description A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system for the application of unmanned aerial vehicles is equipped without humidifiers and the cathode channels of the stack are open to the environment due to limited weight available for power sources. As a result, the PEMFC is operated under low humidity conditions, causing membrane dehydration, low performance, and degradation. To keep the generated water within the fuel cell to humidify the membrane, in this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is employed in the fabrication of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The effect of PVA content, either sprayed on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) or mixed in the catalyst layer (CL), on the MEA performance is compared under various humidity conditions. The results show that MEA performance is increased with the addition of PVA either on the GDL or in the CL, especially for non-humidified anode conditions. The result suggested that 0.03% PVA in the anode CL and 0.1% PVA on the GDL can improve the MEA performance by approximately 30%, under conditions of a non-humidified anode and a room-temperature-humidified cathode. However, MEAs with PVA in the anode CL show better durability than those with PVA on the GDL according to measurement with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
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spelling pubmed-75643922020-10-28 Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations Jienkulsawad, Prathak Chen, Yong-Song Arpornwichanop, Amornchai Polymers (Basel) Article A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system for the application of unmanned aerial vehicles is equipped without humidifiers and the cathode channels of the stack are open to the environment due to limited weight available for power sources. As a result, the PEMFC is operated under low humidity conditions, causing membrane dehydration, low performance, and degradation. To keep the generated water within the fuel cell to humidify the membrane, in this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is employed in the fabrication of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The effect of PVA content, either sprayed on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) or mixed in the catalyst layer (CL), on the MEA performance is compared under various humidity conditions. The results show that MEA performance is increased with the addition of PVA either on the GDL or in the CL, especially for non-humidified anode conditions. The result suggested that 0.03% PVA in the anode CL and 0.1% PVA on the GDL can improve the MEA performance by approximately 30%, under conditions of a non-humidified anode and a room-temperature-humidified cathode. However, MEAs with PVA in the anode CL show better durability than those with PVA on the GDL according to measurement with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. MDPI 2020-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7564392/ /pubmed/32825148 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12091865 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Jienkulsawad, Prathak
Chen, Yong-Song
Arpornwichanop, Amornchai
Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title_full Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title_fullStr Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title_full_unstemmed Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title_short Modifying the Catalyst Layer Using Polyvinyl Alcohol for the Performance Improvement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Low Humidity Operations
title_sort modifying the catalyst layer using polyvinyl alcohol for the performance improvement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells under low humidity operations
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7564392/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32825148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12091865
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