Polymer electrolyte fuel cell stack research and development

The research activity in polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is oriented to the evolution of components and devices for the temperature range from 20 to 130 1C, and covers all the aspects of this matter: membranes and electrodes, fuel cell stack engineering (design and manufacturing) and characterization, computational modelling and small demonstration systems prototyping. Particular attention is devoted to portable and automotive application. Membranes research is focused on thermostable polymers (polyetheretherketone, polysulphone, etc.) and composite membranes able to operate at higher temperature (>100°C) and lower humidification than the commercial Nafions, while Pt load reduction and gas diffusion layer improvement are the main goals for the electrode development. PEFC stack engineering and characterization activity involve different aspects such as the investigation of new materials for stack components, fuel cell modelling and performance optimization by computational techniques, single cell and stack electrochemical characterization, development of investigation tools for stack monitoring and data acquisition. A lot of work has been focused to the fuel cell stack architecture, assembling, gas leakage and cross-over reduction (gasketing), flow field and manifold design. Computational fluid dynamics studies have been performed to investigate and improve reactants distribution inside the cell. A flow field design methodology, developed in this framework and related to serpentine like flow field, is actually under investigation. All of these aspects of PEFC stack research are realized in the framework of National and European research projects, or in collaboration with industries and other research centres. In the present work our stack research activity is reported and the most important results are also considered.