Mass transport phenomena in proton exchange membrane fuel cells using O2/He, O2/Ar, and O2/N2 mixtures. I: Experimental analysis

A performance evaluation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is carried out using air and oxygen. Cell potential vs current density measurements were made over the temperature range 50-90 C and pressure range 1-5 atm. It is shown that mass-transfer limitations are less in PEMFCs with O2/H3 than with O2/Ar or O2/N2 gas mixtures. At an oxygen composition greater than 40 percent in the gas mixture, the pseudo-linear region of the potential vs current density plot is extended up to at least 1 A/sq cm. (AIAA)