PEFC MEA Comparative Testing for Pure Hydrogen and Oxygen Operation

Pure hydrogen and oxygen fuel cells are used in space and submarine applications but not much can be found in literature. In this work three different commercial MEAs (IRD XL PFSA reinforced membrane, a Baltic with Nafion 212 membrane and a Alfa-Aesar PFSA) have been tested using pure hydrogen and oxygen under different RH (dry-25-50-75-100%) and pressure (1-3-5 absolute bar) conditions. The most reliable operative conditions have been obtained at 3 bar (absolute) and high RH value (over 50%), resulting in stable and reliable operation for all the tested MEAs, meanwhile low RH operation often led to membrane failures. Under these conditions IRD reinforced membrane MEA has shown a high reliability in all conditions, although featuring lower performances mainly due to high membrane Ohmic resistance caused by the presence of the reinforcement. This research was the initial step for pure H2/O2 operation system