Experimental investigation on voltage response to operation parameters of a unitized regenerative fuel cell during mode switching from fuel cell to electrolysis cell.

Summary: In this work, a proton exchange membrane unitized regenerative fuel cell with a 25 cm² active area and a transparent window was designed to study the influence of mode switching from the fuel cell mode to the electrolysis cell mode on the cell voltage and the gas‐liquid two‐phase flow behaviors in the oxygen flow channels. Results indicate that: the growth rate of electrolysis cell voltage before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels decreases with the increase of the fuel cell current density; while the growth rate of electrolysis cell voltage before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels increases with the cell temperature; the voltage of electrolysis cell mode before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels decreases with the increase of water flow rate; the different voltage reduction speeds are attributed to the different water flow rates. The water temperature has an obscure influence on the cell voltage of electrolysis cell mode before the water pumped to the oxygen flow channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]