The effects of carbon monoxide contamination on proton-exchange membrane fuel cells

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen over a platinum catalyst to form liquid water, heat, and D.C. electricity. A hydrogen-rich gas may be obtained from reformed fossil fuels, such as methanol, however it produces contaminants such as carbon monoxide which are toxic to PEM fuel cells.; Carbon monoxide is known to be a poison to the platinum anode catalyst in PEM fuel cells. An in-depth literature review on CO contamination and PEM fuel cell modelling is discussed. A model predicting the cell voltage can be expressed as the sum of the thermodynamic potential, the activation overvoltage, and the ohmic overvoltage as previously predicted in the literature. This thesis introduces a new empirical model for the internal resistance which is required to calculate the ohmic overvoltage. The activation overvoltage term is separated into the cathodic and anodic activation overvoltage developing two new models for the anodic activation overvoltage in the presence of CO: the simple model and the kinetics model.; A new empirical model was developed for the fractional surface coverage of CO on platinum based on the inlet partial pressures of hydrogen and CO, stack temperature, and operating current. This term is incorporated into both models developed in this thesis for the anodic activation overvoltage. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...