A mathematical model of polymer electrolyte fuel cell with anode CO kinetics

We develop a mathematical model of solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell with anode CO kinetics, which is essentially a model that marrying the work of Bernardi and Verbrugge (J. Electrochem. Soc. 139 (1992) 2477) with that of Springer et al. (J. Electrochem. Soc. 148 (2001) A11). Two cases of study were carried out. First, the water self-sufficiency of fuel cell operation was conducted under different current density, temperature, pressure differential across the membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA), hydraulic permeability and electro-kinetic permeability. Comparison of superficial water velocities in the MEA under the effect of different current density with those from Bernardi and Verbrugge was conducted. Results showed that, treating the catalyst layers as interfaces instead of regions as simplified by Bernardi and Verbrugge, would significantly underestimate the water velocities in the MEA and the error is particularly large at high current density operations. Second, the effect of CO poisoning of fuel cell was presented in terms on cell polarization. The prediction covered 0, 25, 50, 100 and 250 ppm of CO concentration in hydrogen feedstock and results were validated by experimental data obtained from Springer et al. The trends of anode polarization curve due to CO poisoning were explained.