Pulsed Activation of a Fuel Cell on the Basis of a Proton-Exchange Polymer Membrane

Abstract

The influence of pulsed activation on the electrochemical characteristics of fuel cells based on the Nafion proton-conducting membrane is studied. The activation was a repeated pulsed operation of the membrane–electrode assembly (MEA), which was characterized by alternating a constant load of the MEA near a short-circuit current at voltage U_L = 0.1 V and its “idle time” corresponding to the open circuit voltage of the MEA, U_OCV ≈ 0.95 V. It is shown that there is an optimal ratio of the time parameters of the pulsed load at which the activation is much more efficient than in the case of constant potentiostatic or galvanostatic regimes often used in practice.