Segmented polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells—A review

A complex interaction of many design, assembling and operating parameters as well as the properties of the materials used in the construction of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) result in an uneven electrochemical performance over the MEA active area. For more than one decade, segmented PEMFC (SFC) have been used to study the factors responsible for that uneven performance. This paper reviews relevant literature related to SFC published since 1998 focusing on the three most important SFC design techniques: (1) printed circuit board, (2) resistors network and (3) Hall effect sensors. First, the three techniques are described and fundamental considerations for its design, construction and electrochemical characterization are provided. After that, the effect of most important parameters on the current density distribution is highlighted. Finally, representative results combining current density distribution measurements with other analytical techniques for distributed analysis are presented.