ABSTRACT
Fuel cells o‘er e™cient, quiet, and virtually pollution-free energy conversion and power generation. Of the di‘erent types of fuel cells, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are promising in being environmental friendly, and have several advantages over conventional energy-converting devices, including both high e™ciency and power density, making them unique across a wide range of portable, stationary, and transportation power applications. However, several challenges still remain, including durability/reliability, cost, and performance, particularly for automotive and stationary applications. Durability has emerged as the top challenge. “e 2015 US Department of Energy (DOE) lifetime requirements for transportation applications are 5000 h (cars) and 20,000 h (buses), and for on-site cogeneration systems 40,000 h. Currently, the lifetimes of fuel cell vehicles and stationary cogeneration systems are around 1700 h and 10,000 h, respectively (Payne, 2009). Clearly, intensive R&D is still needed to address the issues related to PEM fuel cell durability or degradation in order to achieve sustainable commercialization.
