I was wondering if you can properly condition a MEA by using humidified hydrogen on the anode side and humidified argon on the cathode side? Does it impact the proton conductivity of the membrane?
Thank you!
Conditioning does have an impact on proton conductivity - taking iR or HFR fully hydrated in the Ohmic region, measured proton conductivity of the membrane/ionomer does increase somewhat (maybe 20-30% after subtracting the baseline from non-MEA components) but power density can increase 50% or more.
The usual conditioning route is drawing a decent current density through the membrane, so you definitely need air or oxygen (MEAs condition roughly twice as fast in oxygen as in air). However, an older method of conditioning is to run CVs prior to operation (e.g. 200-400 cycles 0.05-0.8V) - perfectly doable under your conditions. I use the usual route but a friend uses the CV method and is happy enough with it - you won't get to 100% of potential function, but I'm pretty sure using a set method will give consistent enough results for your purposes.
MEA conditioning should be done in the presence of Air/Oxygen. If you opt oxygen for conditioning, you will have better performance. But while doing polarization, it is mandate to pass air atleast for 3-4 h prior to polarisation. Orelse, you may lead in the confusion whether the performance is due to air or oxygen.
in terms of conductivity, I dont think there will be greater impact when doing conditioning in the presence of agron. But It is mandate to using air/oxygen for the conditioning process.
No. Conditioning aims to humidify the membrane and electrodes by waters from the oxygen reaction and gas flow. Wet ionomer has high conductivity. In fact, oxygen reaction is more effective than humid gas flow. Without oxygen reaction, the process would be invalid. Also, conditioning at high votage can clean the MEA by the oxidation of contaminant, including some organics.
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