POLYMER ELECTROLYTE MEMBRANE

(PEM) FUEL CELL IN VEHICLES

Presented by,
Eldhose Shaju

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 Contents
• Introduction
• Types Of Fuel Cells
• Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV)
• Hydrogen as Fuel
• Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell
• Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA)
• Fuel cell stack
• Challenges and Developments in PEM Fuel Cell
• Conclusion
• Future Scopes
• References

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 Introduction
• Hydrogen fuel cells invented in 1839 by Sir William Robert Grove
and PEM fuel cells was invented on early 1960s.
• 20% of green house gases are emitted from transportation sector.
• A fuel cell produces electricity
through a chemical reaction,
but without combustion.
• Aspects of engines as well
as batteries.
Image courtesy: [3] 3
 Types Of Fuel Cells
• Alkaline fuel cells.

• Phosphoric acid fuel cells.

• Molten carbonate fuel cells.

• Solid oxide fuel cells.

• Direct methanol fuel cells.

• Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells.

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 Fuel cell vehicle (FCV)
• Also known as fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) which uses fuel
cell instead of battery.

• Components

 Fuel cell stack

 Fuel cell engine auxiliaries

 Electric drive system Image courtesy: [2]

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 Hydrogen as Fuel
 On mass basis hydrogen has three times more energy content
than gasoline.
 Hydrogen is not an energy source, It is an energy carrier
 Hydrogen can be produced by,
• Steam reforming of liquids or gases containing hydrogen.
• Electrolysis of water.
• Gasification of organic materials.

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 POLYMER ELECTROLYTE MEMBRANE
(PEM) FUEL CELL
• Also known as proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell.
• The reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell
produces water, electricity, and heat.
• Uses hydrogen-air as fuel and stoichiometric reactant flow rate
(ml/min) in the ratio of 1:2.4
• The heart of PEM fuel cell is membrane electrode
assembly(MEA).

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 Membrane Electrode Assembly(MEA)
 Polymer electrolyte membrane
• Made of polymer Nafion or Aquivion.
• Electrical insulator between anode and cathode sides.
• When properly hydrated act as protonic conductor.
• Preventing reactant crossover between two halves of cell.
 Catalyst layers
• Platinum or platinum-based alloy
• Catalyze the reaction

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MEA(Cont’d..)
 Gas diffusion layers
• Uniform distribution of reactant
gases to catalyst layer.
• Electrical connection between
catalyst and current collectors.
• Image courtesy: [1]

Bipolar Plates
• Made of conductive materials Supply gas reactant to the cell.
• Supply gas reactant to the cell and acts as current collector.

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 Fuel cell stack
• MEA with bipolar plates can
be joined in series or parallel.
• Series combination is mostly
used in vehicles.
• Fuel cell vehicle Toyota Mirai has
370 cells with each cell 1.34mm
thickness. Source; www.semanticscholar.org
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Challenges and Developments in PEM Fuel Cell
 Fuel cell cost
• Materials and components cost
• Use of platinum as catalyst.
 Durability and performance
• Degradation of materials and catalyst.
• Carbon corrosion in catalyst layer.
• Average lifespan of 200,000km to 300,000km
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 Challenges and Developments in PEM Fuel Cell
(cont’d)
 Hydrogen refuelling infrastructure
• Lowest storage density hence, refuelling infrastructure becomes
more expensive.
• Hydrogen can be generated on-site
or delivered to on-site.
 Hydrogen storage in vehicles
• Compressing hydrogen gas (70MPa)
• Liquid form in cryogenic cylinders. Image courtesy [6]

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 Conclusion
 PEM fuel cells vehicles have
• Higher Efficiency of around 60% while for internal
combustion engines 40%.
• Zero-emission vehicle (ZEV).
• Mechanical simplicity, low vibration and noise.
 Developing innovative and durable with low cost material is
needed.
 Thus current fossil fuel-driven unsustainable mode of transport
must change and in which PEM fuel cell will be most
promising.
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 Future Scopes
• The Fuel Cell technology is extensible for large scale and

small scale power production.

• Helps in automation of vehicles.

• Can employed as plug in hybrid fuel cell electric vehicles.

• Defense and aerospace applications.

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 References
[1] Secanell, M., et al. "PEM fuel cells, modeling." Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and
Technology (2017): 1-61.
[2]J M DeCicco and X Li. “Fuel cell Vehicles”. Earth Systems and Environmental sciences.
(2016).
[3] K Kendall. “Hydrogen Fuel Cells”. Encyclopedia of Sustainable Technologies.3.1 (2017):
305-316.
[4] Alaswad, Abed, et al. "Developments in fuel cell technologies in the transport sector."
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 41.37 (2016): 16499-16508.
[5] Tanç, Bahattin, et al. "Overview of the next quarter century vision of hydrogen fuel cell
electric vehicles." International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 44.20 (2019): 10120-10128.
[6] Nonobe, Yasuhiro. "Development of the fuel cell vehicle mirai." IEEJ Transactions on
Electrical and Electronic Engineering 12.1 (2017): 5-9.

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THANK YOU

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