Determination of Liquid Water Distribution in Porous Transport Layers

Buechi, Felix N.; Flückiger, Reto; Tehlar, Denis; Marone, Federica; Stampanoni, Marco

doi:10.1149/1.2981893

Cited by 54 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…From the channel/GDL interface, the saturation level drops gradually to zero half way through the GDL. Similar water distribution trend in the GDL during imbibition was also observed by Büchi [8]. Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

In Situ Imaging of Water Distribution in a Gas Diffusion Layer by Neutron Radiography

Gao¹,

Nguyen²,

Hussey³

et al. 2010

ECS Trans.

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In this study, neutron imaging was used to study water transport in a gas diffusion layer (GDL) during liquid water imbibition and drainage. It was shown that the liquid water saturation level in the GDL above the ribs was less than that above the channels, illustrating the role of the flow field elements on the local water distribution in the GDL. The difference in the liquid saturation level was attributed to the higher compression level of the GDL above the ribs leading to different morphological properties and, consequently, transport properties. Once liquid water breakthrough was reached, water was observed to flow through a single pathway. These results demonstrate that the assumption of isotropic transport properties of the GDLs in PEM fuel cell models needs to be reconsidered.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

In Situ Imaging of Water Distribution in a Gas Diffusion Layer by Neutron Radiography

Gao¹,

Nguyen²,

Hussey³

et al. 2010

ECS Trans.

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“…Synchrotron X-ray radiography offers high spatial and temporal resolutions (less than 10 μm and less than 10 s, respectively) [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. Though X-ray photons are not as sensitive as a neutron beam to the presence of liquid water, Chevalier et al [29] demonstrated that synchrotron X-ray radiography can achieve similar accuracy to neutron radiography with a high level of precision.…”

Section: Visualizations Of Liquid Water Saturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Muirhead

Banerjee

George

et al. 2018

Electrochimica Acta

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In this thesis, the relative humidity (RH) of the cathode reactant gas was investigated as a factor which influences gas diffusion layer (GDL) liquid water accumulation and mass transport-related efficiency losses over a range of operating current densities in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Limiting current measurements were used to characterize fuel cell oxygen transport resistance while simultaneous measurements of liquid water accumulation were conducted using synchrotron X-ray radiography. GDL porosity distributions were characterized with micro-computed tomography (μCT). The work presented here can be used by researchers to develop improved numerical models to predict GDL liquid water accumulation and to inform the design of next-generation GDL materials to mitigate mass transport-related efficiency losses. This work also contributes an extensive set of concurrent performance and liquid water visualization data to the PEM fuel cell field that can be used for validating multiphase transport models.iii

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“…Over the last several years, there has been a significant effort in characterizing morphology and water distribution within the pores of the GDL by using X-ray computed tomography (CT) [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

Section: Kim and Menchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Phase‐Change‐Induced Flow in Gas Diffusion Layers in Fuel Cells with X‐ray Computed Tomography

Shum

Parkinson

Xiao

et al. 2017

Electrochimica Acta

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The performance of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells is heavily dependent on proper management of liquid water. One particular reason is that liquid water can collect in the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) blocking the reactant flow to the catalyst layer. This results in increased mass-transport losses. At higher temperatures, evaporation of water becomes a dominant water-removal mechanism and specifically phase-change-induced (PCI) flow is present due to thermal 1 gradients. This study used synchrotron based micro X-ray computed tomography (CT) to visualize and quantify the water distribution within gas diffusion layers subject to a thermal gradient. Plotting saturation as a function of through-plane distance quantitatively shows water redistribution, where water evaporates at hotter locations and condenses in colder locations. The morphology of the GDLs on the micro-scale, as well as evaporating water clusters, are resolved, indicating that the GDL voids are slightly prolate, whereas water clusters are oblate. From the mean radii of water distributions and visual inspection, it is observed that larger water clusters evaporate faster than smaller ones.

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Determination of Liquid Water Distribution in Porous Transport Layers

Cited by 54 publications

References 7 publications

In Situ Imaging of Water Distribution in a Gas Diffusion Layer by Neutron Radiography

In Situ Imaging of Water Distribution in a Gas Diffusion Layer by Neutron Radiography

Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Investigating Phase‐Change‐Induced Flow in Gas Diffusion Layers in Fuel Cells with X‐ray Computed Tomography

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