Understanding degradation in PEM fuel cells

Increasing the long-term stability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells in general and under dynamic operation in particular is crucial for its commercialization. This stability is affected by not only operation parameters but also the components and their materials. In this talk, we discuss our initiatives at Fraunhofer ISE in order to fully understand how materials and operation parameters affect the overall degradation processes taking place in the membrane electrode assembly. We specifically highlight the importance of the use of both experimental and numerical methods to further this understanding.