Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Membrane and Membrane Electrode Assembly Degradation Correlating Accelerated Stress Testing and Lifetime Testing

Abstract

An important step in achieving fundamental understanding of fuel cell failure mechanisms and development of technology to mitigate these failures is accomplished by analysis of directed lifetime and failure test results. Several lifetime, accelerated stress, and drive cycle test protocols have been developed and carried out. The two major ASTs that have been developed to evaluate membrane degradation are 1) Open circuit voltage tests, which are designed to accelerate chemical degradation, and 2) Relative humidity cycling tests, which are designed to accelerate mechanical degradation. The results from these tests have been compared to field tests. The ultimate goal is to use the laboratory tests to predict data in the field. An overall predictive decay model is being developed through a combination of specific modeling and tests.