Enhanced MEA Performance for an Intermediate-Temperature Fuel Cell with a KH₅(PO₄)₂-Doped Polybenzimidazole Membrane

This work exhibits an effective approach to enhance the performance of membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) with KH₅(PO₄)₂-doped PBI membrane, by adding phosphoric acid (PA) in the catalyst layer (CL). The ohmic resistance and single-cell performance of the MEA, treated with PA, are reduced by ~80% and improved by ~800%, respectively, compared to that of untreated MEA. Based on the MEA pretreated with PA, the influence of humidity and temperature on the resistance and the single-cell performance are investigated. Under humidified gas conditions, the ohmic resistance of MEA is reduced but the charge transfer resistance is slightly increased. Regarding the effect of temperature, the ohmic resistance of MEA becomes lower as the temperature elevates from 140 to 180 °C, but increases at 200 °C. The maximum peak power density presents at 180 °C and 20% RH with 454 mW cm^-2. The peak power density is favored with temperature increase from 140 to 180 °C, but decreases with further increase to 200 °C. Moreover, when dry gas conditions are employed, the output performance is unstable, suggesting that humidification is necessary to inhibit degradation for a long-term stability test.