THE PERFORMANCE OF PEM FUEL CELL USING PLATINUM-RUTHENIUM ALLOY CATALYST WITH VARIABLE CATALYST LOADING

Fuel cells are regarded as a promising alternative for a clean and green energy source in the context of depleting fossil fuels. A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device that converts chemical energy of a fuel directly into electrical energy. Among the different fuel cell variants, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) variant was preferred due to quick startup, low operating temperature and better efficiency. In a PEM fuel cell, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which is considered as the ‘heart’ of the fuel cell, is primarily fabricated using electrocatalysts supported on carbonmaterials with higher surface area. In this study, three MEAs were fabricated for a PEM fuel cell of 25 cm2 active area using 30% Pt-Ru catalyst supported on carbon for anode and 20% Pt supported on carbon for cathode with a various catalyst loading. MEA-1 is fabricated with a loading of 0.6 mg of Pt/cm2 for anode and 0.4 mg of Pt/cm2 for cathode. MEA-2 is fabricated with a loading of 0.6 mg of Pt/cm2 for anode and 0.5 mg of Pt/cm2 for cathode. MEA-3 is fabricated with a loading of 0.6 mg of Pt/cm2 for anode and 0.6 mg of Pt/cm2 for cathode. Experimental analysis was conducted to investigate the PEM fuel cell performance using the fabricated MEAs under the influence of variable operating parameters such as cell temperature, Anode gas humidification temperature, Cathode gas humidification temperature, Anode gas flow rate and Cathode gas flow rate. The experimental results were presented in the form of polarization curves and power curves which shows the impact of variable catalyst loading and flow field plates on the performance of PEM fuel cell.