Understanding catalyst layer degradation in PEM fuel cell through polarization curve fitting

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are close to commercialization: recently, car industry companies claimed beginning of mass production of PEMFC-based car in 2015. However, a lot of work still needs to be done to improve cell and stack durability.One of the most detrimental processes in PEMFCs is corrosion of carbon “balls”, which support Pt particles hosting the electrochemical conversion in the cathode catalyst layer (CCL) [1]. Pt particles that lost support tend to agglomerate; this process decreases electrochemically active surface of the CCL, thereby increasing polarization potential