Issue
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering,
Vol.23, No.4, 570-575, 2006
Optimum condition of membrane electrode assembly fabrication for PEM fuel cells
The aim of this research was to study the effect of fabrication factors on the performance of MEA of a PEM fuel cell. The MEA was prepared by using 5 cm2 of porous electrodes with Pt loading 1 mg/cm2 and Nafion 115 membrane from Electrochem Co. Ltd. The studied factors were temperature, pressure and time of compression in the range of 130-150 °C, 50-100 kg/cm2 and 1-5 minutes, respectively. A 2k factorial design was conducted in this study. The results showed that interaction between pressure and temperature and interaction between temperature and time of compression have significant effects on the performance of the MEA. With low pressure, but high temperature and long compression time, current density is increased. The results showed that the optimum condition was 65 kg/cm2, 137 °C and 5.5 min of compression time. It was also found that the force of 69 kg-cm for assembling the single cell gave the best performance.
[References]
  1. Cha SY, Lee WM, J. Electrochem. Soc., 146(11), 4055, 1999
  2. Debe MK, Pham TN, Steinbach AJ, US patent, 6, 425993, 2000
  3. Debe MK, Poirier RJ, Wackerfuss MK, Ziegler RJ, US patent, 5, 879828, 1999
  4. Giorgi L, Antolini E, Pozio A, Passalacqua E, Electrochim. Acta, 43(24), 3675, 1998
  5. Iyuke SE, Mohamad AB, Kadhum AAH, Daud WRW, Rachid C, J. Power Sources, 114(2), 195, 2003
  6. Kumar GS, Raja M, Parthasarathy S, Electrochim. Acta, 40(3), 285, 1995
  7. Larminie J, Dicks A, Fuel cell systems explained, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2000
  8. Litster S, McLean G, J. Power Sources, 130(1-2), 61, 2004
  9. Montgomery DC, Design and analysis of experiments, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2001
  10. Pozio A, Giorgi L, De Francesco M, Silva RF, Lo Presti R, Danzi A, J. Power Sources, 112(2), 491, 2002
  11. Lim C, Wang CY, Electrochim. Acta, 49(24), 4149, 2004
  12. Wilson MS, Gottesfeld S, J. Appl. Electrochem., 22, 1, 1992
  13. Wolf V, Gasteiger HA, Lamm A, Handbook of fuel cells-Fundamentals,Technology and Applications, Vol. 2: Fuel cell technology and applications, John Wiley & Son, New York, 2003
  14. Yang TH, Park GG, Pugazhendhi P, Lee WY, Kim CS, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 19(3), 417, 2002