─The Nafion/zeolite composite membranes were synthesized for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs) by adding zeolite in the matrix of Nafion polymer. Two kinds of zeolites, Analcime and Faujasite, were used. The physicochemical properties of the composite membranes such as water uptake, ion-exchange capacity, hydrogen permeability, and proton conductivity were determined. The fabricated compo...

Progress in the area of proton conducting polymer electrolyte membranes is intimately linked with the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, and is today largely driven by the insufficient properties of humidified Nafion membranes at temperatures above 100 8C. Recent developments in the field include new ionomers and hybrid membranes containing inorganic nanoparticles to contro...

The prohibitive cost of platinum for catalyzing the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has hampered the widespread use of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. We describe a family of non-precious metal catalysts that approach the performance of platinum-based systems at a cost sustainable for high-power fuel cell applications, possibly including automotive power. The approach uses polyaniline ...

Proton conducting materials having reasonable proton conductivity at low humidification conditions are critical for decrease in system complexity and improvement of power density for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. This study shows that polyelectrolyte brushes on titanate nanotubes formed through surface-initiated free radical polymerization exhibit less humidity-dependent proton condu...

This paper describes and demonstrates a new method for determination of current density distribution in an operating polymer electrolyte membrane ~PEM! fuel cell. The technique is a modification of the current mapping technique that relies on an array of shunt resistors embedded within a current collecting plate. Standard, nonaltered membrane electrode assemblies are utilized with gas diffusion...

This paper presents a new method of fault detection and isolation (FDI) for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC) dynamic systems under an open-loop scheme. This method uses a radial basis function (RBF) neural network to perform fault identification, classification and isolation. The novelty is that the RBF model of independent mode is used to predict the future outputs of the FC s...

This paper presents a new method of fault detection and isolation (FDI) for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC) dynamic systems under an open-loop scheme. This method uses a radial basis function (RBF) neural network to perform fault identification, classification and isolation. The novelty is that the RBF model of independent mode is used to predict the future outputs of the FC s...

In the present study, the operating conditions of an anode-supported high temperature direct internal reforming (DIR) planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are numerically analyzed. SOFCs are the energy conversion devices that produce electricity and heat directly from a gaseous fuel by the electrochemical combination of that fuel with an oxidant. A planar SOFC consists of an interconnect structu...