A Review on Impact of the Marine Salt Spray Environment on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

With the escalating global demand for clean energy, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), as an efficient and environmentally friendly energy conversion device, has emerged as a pivotal component of new power systems, playing a crucial role in achieving global carbon emission reduction targets. At present, the application of PEMFC technology is gradually expanding to the shipping industry and other fields, indicating its potential role in the future transformation of the energy structure. This article focuses on the marine salt spray environment; summarizes the impact of salt ionic contamination on PEMFC performance in recent years; and mainly explores the influence mechanism of the internal components of PEMFC, including the bipolar plate, the gas diffusion layer, catalyst layer, and proton exchange membrane. In addition, this study analyzes and summarizes the polarization curve variations in the marine salt spray environment, as well as the recovery methods after contamination, in order to provide certain references of PEMFC research for marine application.

Keywords

• PEMFC
• marine salt spray
• salt ionic contamination
• performance degradation
• influence mechanism