ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to review the state-of-theart knowledge regarding the degradation of PEM water electrolysis cells and stacks. Whereas significant efforts have been made over the last years to better understand degradation mechanisms in PEM fuel cells (in particular for applications in the automotive industry) (Wang et al. 2012), the degradation of PEM water electrolysis cells has been less considered. Although both technologies share common features, they differ significantly. A better understanding of microscopic phenomena that tend to degrade both performance and durability of PEM water electrolysis cells is critical not only for those working in R&D departments who wish to improve the technology for new market applications, but also for the manufacturers of PEM water electrolyzers who wish to implement quality control procedures on production lines (at component, cell, or stack level) or on-site process monitoring-diagnostic in view of anticipated maintenance operations.
