Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Nigel Brandon OBE FREng FRS

Faculty of Engineering

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 8600n.brandon Website

 
 
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Location

 

2.06Faculty BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Hack:2018:10.1149/2.0051806jes,
author = {Hack, J and Heenan, TMM and Iacoviello, F and Mansor, N and Meyer, Q and Shearing, P and Brandon, N and Brett, DJL},
doi = {10.1149/2.0051806jes},
journal = {Journal of The Electrochemical Society},
pages = {F3045--F3052},
title = {A structure and durability comparison of membrane electrode assembly fabrication methods: self-assembled versus hot-pressed},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/2.0051806jes},
volume = {165},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The most common means of fabricating membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) involves a hot-press step. The conditions used to perform the hot-press impacts the performance and durability of the fuel cell. However, the hot-press process is not essential for achieving operational MEAs and some practitioners dispense with the hot-press stage altogether by using a self-assembled approach. By performing the integration of the components in-situ during fuel cell assembly, there is the potential to lower the cost and time of manufacture. This study investigates the electrochemical performance and mechanical microstructure of MEAs that were either hot-pressed or self-assembled (non-hot-pressed) and compared at beginning-of-test (BOT) and end-of-test (EOT), following accelerated stress testing. Hot-pressed and self-assembled MEAs were found to show negligible difference in their performance and almost identical performance degradation. X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) showed distinct differences in the microstructure of the electrodes. In addition to a crack network in the catalyst layer, the self-assembled samples exhibit indentations that were not present in the hot-pressed sample. It was concluded that in-situ assembly of MEAs could be a suitable means of fabricating PEFC MEAs.
AU  - Hack,J
AU  - Heenan,TMM
AU  - Iacoviello,F
AU  - Mansor,N
AU  - Meyer,Q
AU  - Shearing,P
AU  - Brandon,N
AU  - Brett,DJL
DO  - 10.1149/2.0051806jes
EP  - 3052
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 1945-7111
SP  - 3045
TI  - A structure and durability comparison of membrane electrode assembly fabrication methods: self-assembled versus hot-pressed
T2  - Journal of The Electrochemical Society
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/2.0051806jes
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000431807600006&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/60889
VL  - 165
ER  -
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