Impact of Structural Plastics as Balance of Plant Components on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance

The impact of plastic material (Polyamide 610) as a balance of plant component on PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) performance was investigated in this paper. It is shown that this plastic material leaches out anions (chloride and nitrate) and cations (silicon and sodium) and low molecular weight compounds (polyamide 610 cyclic dimer and caprolactam) after 6 weeks of soaking time. The leachants result in significant loss of available Pt sites and decrease of membrane conductivity. The infusion test results show that the cell voltage loss decreases linearly with increased Pt loading while it increases linearly with increased leachant concentration. Increase of temperature also increases cell voltage loss. Although, the cell performance successfully recovers similar to 61%, the loss still does not meet strict automotive durability targets. Various types of plastic materials are being screened in order to minimize the adverse impact on fuel cell performance.