Spatial Performance Impact of Electrode Defects in PEMFC

While design and material considerations for PEMFCs have a large impact on cost, it is also necessary to consider a transition to high volume production of fuel cell systems, including MEA components, to enable economies of scale and reduce per-unit cost. One of the critical manufacturing tasks is developing and deploying techniques to provide in-process measurement of fuel cell components for quality control. This effort requires a subsidiary task: The study of the effect of manufacturing defects on performance and durability with the objective to establish validated manufacturing tolerances for fuel cell components. This study focuses on the effect of electrode defects on cell performance. Previous results indicated that single cell experiments have limitations in determining such effects. To achieve a higher level of understanding, a segmented cell system was employed to investigate the performance impact of PEMFC operated with and without electrode defects. Results of these research efforts are discussed.