リン酸型燃料電池の起動・停止時のセル電圧低下について

抄録

It is well known that the voltage of phosphoric acid fuel cell drops due to its on-off operation. The experimental results show that the magnitude of voltage drop depends on the operating cell voltage, the amount of O₂ residue in the cathode electrode and start-stop operating duration. The results of half cell and small sized cell test show that the catalyst sintering and flooding of catalyst layer have been promoted by on-off operation with high electrode potential and high temperature, result-ing the voltage drop of fuel cell. To suppress the voltage drop due to its on-off operation, it is necessary to insert the dumy resistance, to operate N₂ purge and avoid air intrusion from exterior of the fuel cell. It is also effective to suppress the wetting speed of the catalyst layer with electrolyte by increasing its hydrophobicity.