Effect of PTFE Loading on the Performance of the GDL in Water Removal

Abstract

Pore network modeling is a relatively new approach for simulation of fluid flows in porous media of the fuel cells. The porous media is simulated with a network of pores connected to each other through throats. The radius of the pores and throats, the length of the throats and other geometric specifications of the network is extracted with respect to the tomography of the porous media under study. The flow of the fluid though the network is then studied using simplified Navier-Stokes equation (usually Darcy’s law). In this paper, a pore-network approach is adopted in order to study the motion of liquid water inside GDL of PEM fuel cells. The effect of wettability of the medium is examined on the movement of water droplets inside the GDL.