Investigation of operating temperature effects on PEM fuel cell

Abstract

In recent years, due to the negative effects of fossil fuels on the world such as the greenhouse effect and global warming, there has been an increasing interest in new alternative energy sources with their efficiency. Reducing or even eliminating these effects as much as possible will make our world more livable. Fuel cell systems, which are the new alternative energy system with almost zero harmful emissions, have been developed instead of fossil fuel-based systems. One of them is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Although PEM fuel cell has significant advantages, it also has its disadvantages due to the cost and the difficulties in obtaining and storing hydrogen used as fuel. For these reasons, the efficiency of a PEM fuel cell is of great importance. The efficiency of fuel cells is significantly affected by different parameters. The most important of these parameters are the temperature, the electrochemical platinum surface areas of the cathode and anode layers, the partial pressures of reactant gases, and humidity. The operating temperature is effect directly the losses of activation and performance of fuel cell.  In this study, the temperature effects are investigated on PEM fuel cell for performance and efficiency. Simulated typical polarization curves are performed for PEM fuel cell using the Polybenzimidazole and the Naï¬on membrane at different current densities.  Increasing temperature in the fuel cell leads to an increase in fuel cell efficiency. A higher cell temperature increases the membrane conductivity and the exchange current density with an improvement of the cell behavior.