Water Transport in Ionomer and Ice Formation during Cold Startup with Supercooled State in PEFC

Abstract

At cold startup of polymer electrolyte fuel cells near 0 °C like –10 °C, the produced water remains as supercooled state before it freezes, and then the shutdown occurs with ice layer formation between the cathode catalyst layer (CL) and micro-porous layer (MPL). It was estimated from our previous study that water transport in CL occurs by concentration gradient in ionomer. This study investigated the water transport in ionomer and the ice formation behavior by measurement of cold start characteristic and observation of cross-section of membrane electrode assembly by a cryo-SEM. To evaluate the water transport, we measured change in polymer membrane resistance corresponding to water content during the supercooling release. Further, to improve the cold start characteristic, we introduced a hydrophilic MPL and confirmed that the hydrophilic MPL makes the startup period until the shutdown longer, and improves the ice distribution.