Performance recovery of a fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10026981-B2
Application number	US-201715591715-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2017
Priority date	Jul 8, 2009
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

A method of improving the electrical performance of an operating fuel cell catalyst-containing cathode in a fuel cell connected to an electrical load by: reducing the flow of air to the cathode; disconnecting the load from the fuel cell; connecting a potentiostat to the fuel cell; cycling an applied voltage, current, or power to the fuel cell one or more times; disconnecting the potentiostat from the fuel cell; reconnecting the load to the fuel cell; and resuming the flow of air to the cathode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of improving the electrical performance of an operating fuel cell catalyst-containing cathode in a fuel cell connected to an electrical load in which air is flowing to the cathode comprising:
reducing without stopping the flow of air to the cathode;
disconnecting the load from the fuel cell;
connecting a potentiostat to the fuel cell;
cycling an applied, current to the fuel cell one or more times under the reduced flow of air;
wherein the applied current has a current density that ranges from a low of less than −600 mA/cm 2 to a high of greater than +600 mA/cm 2 ;

disconnecting the potentiostat from the fuel cell;
reconnecting the load to the fuel cell; and
resuming the flow of air to the cathode.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cycling is performed 1-20 times.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cycling is performed 1-5 times.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a voltage of less than 0.1 V to the fuel cell before disconnecting the potentiostat.

Assignees

• Us Navy

Inventors

• Gould Benjamin D
• Swider-Lyons Karen
• Baturina Olga A

Classifications

• H01M8/04895

  Current · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/04223

  during start-up or shut-down; Depolarisation or activation, e.g. purging; Means for short-circuiting defective fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04544

  Voltage · CPC title

• H01M8/1018

  Polymeric electrolyte materials · CPC title