I assume it will be fine for the MEA to remain in the cell since leaving it in there is easier for me to test it again the next day. It stays dry in the cell after I purge it, so there shouldn't be a difference if I remove the MEA from the cell.
Thanks!
Really, it's preferable to keep your MEA in the hardware between tests, since you maintain equal compression day-to-day and don't risk damaging your MEA - and whatever shut-down process you're using doesn't seem to be condensing water in your cell. That said, flooding caused by water condensing in the fixture can be extremely hard to spot and impossible to fix through operational parameters, especially when it's on the anode side or when the feed lines are small (e.g. made-for-5 cm2 hardwares). If there's no question about your membrane strength (e.g. PFSAs, PBIs), try blowing out both sides of the fixture with N2 at least once before start-up to see if there's any difference, and try blowing out the fixture after your full disassembly to see if water is hiding in the lines. Repeat any time you change your shut-down process.
My bigger question is why you're shutting down overnight - unless you're doing start-up/shut-down testing or testing non-standard electrodes (e.g. 3M type), you generally can keep them going continuously to find whatever you want to find, even on fairly ancient test systems like the old Scribners I use.
Thank you, Benjamin! I thought so too. For my shutdown process, I usually flow inert air for a half hour and that usually removes any flooding issues.
I do my shutdown process after testing because I do chemical conversion with my PEM cell that requires an ice bath. It would be great to do some experiments overnight once I get the chiller working!
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