Thedegradation of direct methanol fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs)after fuel cell operation for different lengths of time was examined. MEAs werecharacterized by the cross-sectional ATR-IR microscopy, scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). ATR-IR spectrum the membraneshows no loss in the intensity of vibrational signals associated with -SO3H,-COC and CF2 functional groups indicating no changes in the chemicalcomposition of the membrane even after the use for 1000hrs. Whereas, thinningof the membrane is observed from the SEM data indicating that the Nafionionomers membrane degradation is generated at the edges where it get dissolvedin the fuel stream effluents. The XRD results showedthat the particle sizes of anode catalyst increased, whereas the particle sizeof cathode catalyst decreased. The SEM results indicated that during thelifetime period, the cathode catalyst layer gets thinner and there isredistribution of the catalyst particles at both the catalyst layers. Theoverall findings are that Nafion membrane is not affected by any chemicalattacks but it is getting dissolved at the edges, cathode catalyst layer suffersthe degradation over the lifetime operation time and the subtle changes at theanode observed  have substantial adverseeffect on the performance of the fuel cell

Durability studies on performance degradation of catalysts and Nafion® membrane in direct methanol fuel cells

240th National Meeting (2010)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.