New Reference Electrode Approach for Fuel Cell Performance Evaluation

Abstract

We report on the separation of anodic and cathodic potentials in a working fuel cell via reference electrodes at constant conditions. The reference electrodes consisted of four platinized platinum electrode wires and two patches of the same catalyst layer used in the anode. All the reference electrodes were unaffected by the operating conditions of the fuel cell and those with patches provided the most stable potentials. Additional sensing electrodes were placed at the fuel and oxidant inlet and outlet to provide localized information on the operating conditions and the state of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Our results show that this type of sensing electrode system can be used to detect flooding, dehydration, and low stoichiometry events, while the reference electrodes provide detailed behavior of the anode and cathode potentials.