Long-term testing of a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell short stack operated with improved polybenzimidazole-based composite membranes

In this work, the feasibility of a 150 cm(2) high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HTPEMFC) stack operated with modified proton exchange membranes is demonstrated. The short fuel cell stack was manufactured using a total of three 50 cm(2) membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The PEM technology is based on a polybenzimidazole (FBI) membrane. The obtained results were compared with those obtained using a HT-PEMFC stack with unmodified membranes. The membranes were cast from a PBI polymer synthesized in the laboratory, and the modified membranes contained 2 wt.% micro-sized TiO2 as a filler. Long-term tests were performed in both constant and dynamic loading modes. The fuel cell stack with 2 wt.% TiO2 composite PBI membranes exhibited an irreversible voltage loss of less than 2% after 1100 h of operation. In addition, the acid loss was reduced from 2% for the fuel cell stack with unmodified membranes to 0.6% for the fuel cell stack with modified membranes. The results demonstrate that introducing filler into the membranes enhances the durability and stability of this type of fuel cell technology. Moreover, the fuel cell stack system also exhibits very rapid and stable power and voltage output responses under dynamic load regimes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.