398832 A Study of Kinetics for a Fuel Cell Contamination Model

Monday, November 17, 2014
Galleria Exhibit Hall (Hilton Atlanta)
Christian LeDoux1, Michael Nathanson2, Hyunseok Cho1 and J.W. Van Zee3, (1)Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, (2)Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Alabama, (3)Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

The oxygen electrode of a low temperature fuel cell was studied using a spinning electrode, painted with a catalyst ink, submersed in an electrolyte solution and reacted via cyclic voltammetry scans. Potentiostatic measurements were used to determine the reaction kinetics. The experiments used various parameters , which included pH of the electrolyte solution, catalyst concentration, and contamination levels. The goal is to collect data that will help us to obtain parameters that will predict performance loss in the fuel cell due to contamination.

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