Evaluating the Effect of Metal Bipolar Plate Coating on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

Environmental concerns of greenhouse gases (GHG) effect from fossil commodities and the fast increase in global energy demand have created awareness on the need to replace fossil fuels with other sources of clean energy. PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising source of energy to replace fossil fuels. The commercialization of the cell depends on its price, weight and mechanical strength. Bipolar plates are among the main components of PEMFC which perform some significant functions in the fuel cell stack. Metal bipolar plate is considered by the research community as the future material for fuel cells. However, surface coating is required for metals to enhance its corrosion resistance, hydrophilicity and interfacial contact resistance (ICR) in PEM fuel cells. Open pore cellular metal foam (OPCMF) materials have been used to replace the conventional flow field channel in recent times due to its low electrical resistance, high specific area and high porosity; however, it endures the same corrosion problem as the metallic bipolar plate. This investigation offers an overview on different types of bipolar plates and techniques in coating metallic bipolar platse and open pore metal foam as flow field channel materials to improve the corrosion resistance which will eventually increase the efficiency of the fuel cell appreciably.

Flow Analysis Based on Cathodic Current Using Different Designs of Channel Distribution In PEM Fuel Cells

“…Furthermore, Equation (2) was solved considering the convective flux Equation (10). Meanwhile, Equation (10) was solved using the velocity in the pore [17] and mass flux vectors [18,19], and these latter equations were determined by electrode-reaction kinetics [20].…”

“…The equations are written in indicial-tensor notation with: ρ, density kg/m 3 ; t, time s; µ dynamic viscosity of oxygen = 2 × 10 −5 Pa-s (5); u, velocity vector m/s; p, pressure Pa; ω i weight fraction of the i th species; with an inlet mass fraction O 2 = 0.1447, a mass fraction of H 2 O = 0.3789, and a mass fraction of N 2 = 0.4764; D e f f ,ij , the effective binary diffusion coefficient (see Equation (4) in [22][23][24]); M, the total molar mass of the mixture g/mol (see Equation (5) in [19][20][21][25][26][27]); M j , the molecular weight of species j, g/mol; MO 2 , the molecular weight of O 2 = 32 g/mol; M H2O , the molecular weight of H 2 O = 18 g/mol; M N2 , the molecular weight of N 2 = 28 g/mol; D ij , the binary diffusion coefficient for species i and j; k, the Maxwell diffusion constant = 3.16 × 10 −8 Pa·m 2 /s; T, temperature = 353 • K; ν i , the molar diffusion volume of the j th species, cm 3 /mol; ν O2 , the molar diffusion volume of O 2 = 16.6 × 10 −6 cm 3 /mol; νH 2 O, molar diffusion volume of H 2 O = 12.7 × 10 −6 cm 3 /mol; νN 2 , the molar diffusion volume of N 2 = 17.9 × 10 −6 cm 3 /mol; for M j , MO 2 , MH 2 O, and MN 2 , see Table 1; ε, porosity = 0.5; i c , cathode current; S a specific surface area = 1 × 10 7 m 2 /m 3 ; δ, active layer thickness = 10 um; i 0 , exchange current density = 1.06 × 10 −6 mA/cm 2 ; F, Faraday's constant = 96485 C/mol, R, gas constant = 8.314 J/(mol·K); η overpotential between 0.2 and 0.82 V; t H 2 O electro-osmotic drag = 3; gdl, gas diffusion layer thickness = 0.2 mm.…”

Fuel cell membranes – Pros and cons

“…All the achievements recorded so far in the fuel cell technology has been due to continued research on PEM fuel cell and renewable energy in general [149][150][151][152][153][154][155][156][157][158][159][160]. Discussions in this work showed that a comprehensive knowledge of materials and properties is necessary toward choosing the correct preparation method.…”

Prospects and challenges of concentrated solar photovoltaics and enhanced geothermal energy technologies

“…The major challenges are related to the high initial capital cost needed in the execution of most renewable energy projects and the underdeveloped technologies for harnessing the energy for some renewable sources.. Such challenges hamper the advancement of most renewable sources into full commercialization [5][6][7]. Today different types of renewable sources are springing up like the enhanced geo thermal, concentrated solar photovoltaics, ocean energy etc.…”