Accelerated Testing of Carbon Corrosion and Membrane Degradation in PEM Fuel Cells

The durability of PEM fuel cells is a major barrier to the commercialization of these systems for stationary and transportation power applications. To rapidly evaluate materials requires relevant Accelerated Stress Tests (ASTs), the design of which relies on understanding the degradation mechanism. The need for ASTs is apparent given the target lives for fuel cell systems: 5000 hours (~ 7 months) for automotive, and 40,000 hrs (~ 4.6 years) for stationary systems. In this presentation we elucidate the effect of catalyst type (carbon type, loading, and Pt particle size) on the catalyst durability measured using AST protocols. We will also present data from catalyst degradation observed in the field and how the AST lifetimes compare with performance data of the same MEAs run in fuel cell bus stacks.