US EPA

1117406 

Journal Article 

On-line Measurement for Ohmic Resistance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell by Current Interruption Method 

Liu, M; Wang, JH; Wang, SB; Xie, XF; Zhou, T; Mathur, VK 

2010 

Yes 

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering
ISSN: 1004-9541 

Elsevier Science, The Boulevard Kidlington Oxford OX5 1GB UK 

18 

5 

843-847 

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is widely used in fuel cell impedance analysis. However, for ohmic resistance (R sub(O)), EIS has some disadvantages such as long test period and complex data analysis with equivalent circuits. Therefore, the current interruption method is explored to measure the value of R sub(O) in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) at different temperatures and current densities. It is found that R sub(O) decreases as temperature increase, and decreases initially and then increases as current density increases. These results are consistent with those measured by the EIS technique. In most cases, the ohmic resistances with current interruption (R sub(iR)) are larger than those with EIS (R sub(EIS)), but the difference is small, in the range from -0.848% to 5.337%. The errors of R sub(iR) at high current densities are less than those of R sub(EIS). Our results show that the R sub(iR) data are reliable and easy to obtain in the measurement of ohmic resistance in DMFC. 

direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC); ohmic resistance; current interruption method; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS); membrane resistance