A Study on Irreversible Degradation through OCV Reduction and Recovery Behavior in the Electrochemical Degradation Process of PEMFC Polymer Membrane

It is very important to analyze the OCV change behavior during the open circuit potential holding (OCV holding) process, which accelerates the evaluation of the electrochemical durability of the PEMFC membrane. In this study, an empirical formula using the experimental data of three MEAs with different durability was created and compared. The durability evaluation time of the reinforced membrane MEA without radical scavenger inside the membrane was 383 h, and the durability evaluation time of the reinforced membrane MEA with radical scavenger inside the membrane was 1,000 and 1,650 h, respectively. The degradation of the membrane was divided into the reversible degradation that can be recovered by activation and the irreversible degradation that is not recovered. The irreversible degradation of the membrane was indicated by an increase in hydrogen permeability, and the change in hydrogen permeability was similar to the irreversible degradation constant c of all three MEAs. The initiation of irreversible deterioration without recovery is indicated by an increase in hydrogen permeability, and the OCV is not recovered due to an increase in hydrogen permeability, so the slope of the OCV recovery line (ORL) decreases, which can be confirmed by an increase in the constant c value of the empirical formula.