Degradation Impact on Optimal Conditions of PEM Fuel Cell

Degradation mechanisms in fuel cell life time, changes the optimal operation conditions. The purpose of this paper is to maximize the productivity of system by considering degradation mechanisms in 10000 hours of fuel cell operation. In present work, a single PEM fuel cell is investigated. Membrane and catalyst layers (anode and cathode electrodes) are considered as the critical components that affect the degradation of the cell. The model used in this work, diagnosis degradation of those layers (platinum degradation in catalyst layers and membrane thinning and dehydration in polymer membrane), and model has been run for 3 strategies. Results showed that by optimizing operational condition continuously, productivity will increase 0.0622104 kw.hr in 10000 hr of fuel cell operation time.