Effect of Carbon Monoxide on Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Performance with a Hydrogen Circulation System

Yoshiyuki Matsuda; Takahiro Shimizu; Yoshiyuki Hashimasa

Abstract

The effect of carbon monoxide (CO) on the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) with either a hydrogen circulation system or a hydrogen one-way pass system is investigated and compared. The voltage drop induced by adding 0.2 ppm of CO to the PEFC with the hydrogen circulation system was less than one-tenth of that observed in the PEFC with the hydrogen one-way pass system at 1000 mA cm–2 and a cell temperature of 60 °C. Gas analysis results showed that CO concentration in the hydrogen circulation system was lower than the initially supplied CO concentration. In the hydrogen circulation system, permeated oxygen from the cathode should enhance CO oxidation. This should lead to decrease the CO concentration and mitigate the voltage drop in the hydrogen circulation system.

© 2020 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords: Hydrogen Circulation System ; Hydrogen for Transport ; Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Related subjects: Applications & Pathways

Countries: Japan