Experimental Observations of Microstructure Changes in the Catalyst Layers of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells under Wet-Dry Cycles

Microstructure changes of the catalyst layers in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) lead to significant performance degradation and durability limitations, especially under dynamic loading condition; and they are investigated experimentally in this study simulating the effect of wet-dry cycles through water intrusion-evaporation and water flow-through-dehydration experiments, respectively. It is found that the cycling of water intrusion-evaporation processes significantly contributes to the growth of agglomerates as well as the formation of pinholes and cracks, causing irreversible losses of active surface areas and catalytic activity; in contrast, the cycling of water flow-through-dehydration experiments enlarges the large pores but changes very little the agglomerate sizes. This is because water tends to flow through the path of least resistance, that is, the large pores in the catalyst layers, leaving the other parts of the catalyst layers with relatively small pores less affected. These observations provide experimental evidence of microstructure changes and their forms for a better understanding of degradation in PEMFCs, especially under dynamic operating conditions.