This study conducted an experiment on the performance characteristics of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell using dimethyl ether and ethanol and investigated on the ohmic loss, activation loss and crossover loss. A blend of dimethyl ether(DME) and...
This study conducted an experiment on the performance characteristics of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell using dimethyl ether and ethanol and investigated on the ohmic loss, activation loss and crossover loss. A blend of dimethyl ether(DME) and ethanol pressurized to 5 bar was supplied to serpentine flow field of anode. Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) consists of Nafion 115, anode catalyst loading Pt-Ru(4㎎/㎠) and cathode catalyst loading Pt-black(4㎎/㎠). Also, the impedance test was carried out to analysis performance losses such as ohmic loss and activation loss precisely. Fuel crossover from anode to cathode through the membrane was measured by using nitrogen gas at the cathode and power supply.
It was found from the result that the performance of using a blend of DME and ethanol was more increased than that of using ethanol because the activation loss was decreased. Moreover, the open circuit voltage (OCV) and over