Effect of the CeO2 nanoparticles in microporous layers on the durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

In this work, the effect of the CeO 2 in the microporous layer (MPL) on the durability of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is investigated. The 400 h dry-wet accelerated stress test (AST) and the open-circuit voltage (OCV) holding testing were used to identify the function of CeO 2 in the microporous layer (MPL) on the durability and performance of MEA. The results show that the performance decay of the sample with CeO 2 is much smaller than the sample without CeO 2 (e.g., 24 mV vs. 140 mV@ 1200 mA cm−2). More importantly, the OCV decrease rate for sample without CeO 2 is as high as 7.250μV/cycle, which is 9.6 times as the value of 0.752μV/cycle for sample with CeO 2. And it is interesting that the addition of CeO 2 in MPL does not increase the inner resistance in the cell. Therefore, the addition of CeO 2 to the MPL not only can significantly improve the cell durability but also can effectively alleviate the negative impact of Ce ions on the proton conductivity in proton exchange membrane. [Display omitted] • The effect of the CeO 2 in MPL on the durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is investigated. • The performance decay of the sample with CeO 2 is much smaller than the sample without CeO 2. • The addition of CeO 2 to the MPL can significantly improve the cell durability. • The CeO 2 in MPL can effectively alleviate the negative impact of Ce ions on the proton conductivity in PEMFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]