Acceleration Test of Membrane-Electrode Assembly in PEMFC

고분자연료전지의 전해질-전극 접합체의 열화 가속시험

Recently, much attentions have been paid on the commercialization of PEMFC, especially for the applications of residential and portable. In order to achieve the early commercialization of PEMFC, thee are two hurdles to overcome. One is cost down and the other is improvement of durability of the system components. Numerous companies have tried to reduce the production cost and the main research topics have been changed from performance to durability improvement. In this work, acceleration test were performed to find and evaluate the main reason of degradation of the MEA(membrane-electrode assembly) which is one of the core component of the PEMFC system. Based upon the test results, a way to make durable MEA was suggested. Acceleration tests were made by applying high voltage of 1.2V to the several kinds of single cells to increase the growth of catalyst particles. Cell performance, ac-impedance and electrochemically active area measurements were made atfter every 8 hours of acceleration test. Degradations of catalyst and membrane were examined by SEM, TEM and XRD. Obtained results were discussed in terms of structural stability and loss of catalyt and ionomers in the electrode layer. In addition, the way to make highly durable MEA was suggested.