# Relief Zones Enhance the Durability of Ultrathin Membranes in Electrochemical Conversion Devices

## TL;DR

This paper introduces relief zones to improve the durability of ultrathin membranes in electrochemical devices like fuel cells.

## Contribution

The novel use of relief zones to reduce mechanical stress and enhance membrane lifetime in MEAs.

## Key findings

- Relief zones reduce nonuniform compression in MEAs, preventing mechanical degradation.
- Fuel cell tests showed a 6-fold increase in membrane lifetime (∼1500 hours).
- The method works without hardware changes, enabling better device integration.

## Abstract

Premature failures in electrochemical conversion systems
often
result when membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) use ultrathin (≤15
μm-thick) polymer electrolyte membranes, susceptible to mechanical
degradation from stress concentrations arising from device-level integration.
Herein, relief zones were developed to mitigate mechanical degradation
by alleviating excess and nonuniform compression across active areas.
Relief zones, created through ablation of carbonaceous diffusion media,
enable seamless adaptation across MEA dimensions without need for
hardware modifications. Demonstrated using fuel cells as a case study,
accelerated stress tests revealed a 6-fold lifetime improvement (∼1500
h) compared to conventional edge-protected MEAs, decoupling device-level
engineering effects from material limitations.