Metal alloy catalysts, such as Pt-Co, reduce the activation energy of oxygen reduction reaction, leading to improved proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance. However, leaching of non-noble elements contaminates the ionomer and membrane, which has a negative impact on the durability of PEMFCs [1,2]. For the commercial success of metal alloy catalysts, understanding the mechanisms of how cation contamination affects PEMFC performance is crucial. Here, we investigate the effect of cobalt cation contamination effects through intentional doping of decal electrodes. Electrochemical testing results are coupled with membrane conductivity and water uptake measurements, as well as impedance modeling to identify the mechanisms of performance loss. Our results provide a comprehensive understanding of how cation contamination affects performance, which can inform mitigation strategies and new materials development that can enable the use of metal alloy catalysts in PEMFCs.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy (DOE) through the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) consortia, technology managers G. Kleen and D. Papageorgopoulos. Financial support for this work from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is gratefully acknowledged (Projects 2020200DR and 20210915PRD2). ChungHyuk Lee acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

References

1. Cai et al., ECS Trans., 69, 1047 (2015)
2. P. Braaten et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 166, F1337 (2019)