Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane in the Presence of Mg2+

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is regarded as one of the potential renewable energy which may provide a possible longterm solution to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduce fossil fuel dependency and increase energy efficiency. Even though great progress has been made, longterm stability and durability is still an issue. The contamination ion plays an important role on the electrical performance of PEM fuel cell. This paper investigates the effect of Mg2+ contamination on PEM fuel cell performance as a function of Mg2+ concentration. Two levels of Mg2+ concentration was chose. From the experimental results, it can be obtained that a significant drop in fuel cell performance occurred when Mg2+ was injected into the anode fuel stream. The voltage and power density of fuel cell decreased larger and larger with increase of Mg2+ concentration over time. The Mg2+ mainly caused the concentration polarization loss from the anode catalyst to the membrane in fuel cell.