Stability of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes in Fuel Cells: Initial Attempts to Bridge Physical And Chemical Degradation Modes

In recent years, research on coupled degradation of Nafion (R) membrane in polymer electrolyte fuel cell has generated huge interest among the scientific community. The coupled phenomenon behind the premature failure of fuel cell membranes in terms of its degradation is not well established. As the researches on this are in its adolescence, we try to provide some significant answers to the degradation phenomenon in terms of mechanically stimulated chemical degradation of the membrane. While the basic concept heavily relies on accurately modeling the membrane for its mechanical response to obtain molecular chain stretch, the results are utilized by the modified chemical rate equation for unzipping degradation mechanism. This article addresses significant degradation issues such as localized membrane thinning and pinhole formation, and inhomogeneous damage patterns in membrane electrode assembly in terms of mechanically induced accelerated chemical degradation of the membrane.