Author: MAN Truck & Bus SE

Research Unit A: Understanding fuel cell degradation on a molecular scale

In this subproject, the molecular degradation and regeneration processes in fuel cells and small fuel cell stacks will be examined using spatially resolved operando analysis. A novel fuel cell test bench will be developed for this purpose that can be used to analyse selected areas of a fuel cell under realistic operating conditions. Important parameters such as gas atmosphere and local current densities, electrical potentials, and temperatures on cathode and anode sides are analysed with spatial resolution. The molecular state of the catalyser and the membrane are analysed as a function of degradation and regeneration tests using operando Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. This approach enables us to answer three important research questions:

1.         Which molecular species can be observed under specific operating conditions and how does the chemical state of the electrocatalyst change from an active to an inactive species?

2.         Up to which point (i.e., chemical state) and under which conditions can deactivation be reversed, when does it become irreversible, and why?

3.         How do the deactivation steps occur on the surface of a single membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and in the various cells of a fuel cell stack?

 

Project partners: Prof. Raimund Horn (TU Hamburg), Prof. Marc-Georg Willinger (TU München)

 

This project is being carried out at the H2Ohm Institute.

Principal investigator

Maik Eichelbaum Maik Eichelbaum
Prof. Dr. rer. nat.

Research associate

Name Contact
Lena Birkner Lena Birkner
M.Sc.