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An analytical model of mechanical stress in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) of a hydrogen/air fuel cell with porous Water Transfer Plates (WTP) is developed in this work. The model considers a mechanical stress in the membrane is a result of the cell load cycling under constant oxygen utilization. The load cycling causes the cycling of the inlet gas flow rate, which results in the membrane hydration/dehydration close to the gas inlet. Hydration/dehydration of the membrane leads to membrane swelling/shrinking, which causes mechanical stress in the constrained membrane. Mechanical stress results in through-plane crack formation. Thereby, the mechanical stress in the membrane causes mechanical failure of the membrane, limiting fuel cell lifetime. The model predicts the stress in the membrane as a function of the cell geometry, membrane material properties and operation conditions. The model was applied for stress calculation in GORE-SELECT.

In this paper, we discuss critical aspects of the mechanisms and features of polymer proton exchange membrane (PEM) degradation in low-temperature H2/O2 fuel cell. In this paper, we focused on chemical mechanism of OH radical generation and their distribution in operational fuel cell. According to the current concept, free radicals are generated from hydrogen and oxygen crossover gases at the surface of Pt particles that precipitated in the membrane. We explicitly calculate Pt precipitation rate and electrochemical potential distribution in the membrane that controls it. Based on radical generation rate and Pt distribution we calculate degradation rate of the membrane taking advantage of simple kinetics equations.

A carbon corrosion model is developed based on the formation of surface oxides on carbon and platinum of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell electrode. The model predicts the rate of carbon corrosion under potential hold and potential cycling conditions. The model includes the interaction of carbon surface oxides with transient species like OH radicals to explain observed carbon corrosion trends under normal PEM fuel cell operating conditions. The model prediction agrees qualitatively with the experimental data supporting the hypothesis that the interplay of surface oxide formation on carbon and platinum is the primary driver of carbon corrosion.

We propose the general scaling model for the diffusio n-annihilation reaction $A_{+} + A_{-} \longrightarrow \emptyset$ with long-range power-law i nteractions. The presented scaling arguments lead to the finding of three different regimes, dep ending on the space dimensionality d and the long-range force power e xponent n. The obtained kinetic phase diagram agrees well with existing simulation data and approximate theoretical results., Comment: RevTEX, 7 pages, no figures, accepted to Physical Review E