| Abstract: | Fuel cells and electrolysis are promising candidates for future energy production from renewable energy sources. Usually, polymer electrolyte fuel cell systems run on hydrogen and air, while the most of electrolysis systems vent out oxygen as unused by-product. Replacing air with pure oxygen, fuel cell electrochemical performance, durability and system efficiency can be significantly increased with a further overall system simplification and increased reliability. This work, which represents the initial step for pure H_2/O_2 polymer electrolyte fuel cell operation in closed-loop systems, focuses on performance validation of a single cell operating with pure H_2/O_2 under different relative humidity(RH) levels, reactants stoichiometry conditions and temperature. As a result of this study, the most convenient and appropriate operative conditions for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell stack integrated in a closed loop system were selected. |
