Fuel cell characteristic recovery method and apparatus
View Patent ↗A characteristic recovery apparatus is provided with a DMFC having anode and cathode electrodes; anode-side and cathode-side separators for feeding the anode and cathode electrodes with pure water or a solution and an oxygen-containing gas, respectively; a voltage-applying means for forcing current to flow between the electrodes in the same direction as a direction of current flow during power generation of the fuel cell; and a control means for controlling the voltage-applying means.
1. A fuel cell characteristic recovery method, comprising the steps of:
feeding an anode electrode of a fuel cell with pure water or a solution;
feeding a cathode electrode of the fuel cell with an oxygen-containing gas; and
forcing current to flow between the electrodes using a DC (direct current) power supply with a current density of 300-3000 mA/cm 2 in the same direction as a direction of current flow during power generation of the fuel cell.
2. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the step of forcing current to flow is performed until before the MEA (membrane electrode assembly) temperature of the fuel cell reaches 100° C., or until before the maximum applied voltage per cell of the fuel cell reaches 3 V.
3. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the oxygen-containing gas is pure oxygen, air, or a nitrogen gas containing 0.001-1% of oxygen.
4. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the fuel cell is a DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell).
5. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the current density is 350-2000 mA/cm 2 .
6. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the current density is 400-1500 mA/cm 2 .
7. The fuel cell characteristic recovery method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the current density is 450-1400 mA/cm 2 .