Interfacial contact resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Recent developments and challenges

Bhosale, Amit C.; Rengaswamy, Raghunathan

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2019.109351

Cited by 47 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 157 publications

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“…Even the thickness of a fresh GDL with 190 μm is quite thin, its surface morphology is extremely rough. In reality, applied clamping loads on GDLs affect the roughness to some extent, which directly determines the effective contact conditions between GDL and other components [18,25,48]. Although the SEM apparatus is good at the microstructure observation in two dimensions (or in-plane directions) in the micro scale size, it has a very limited ability to exhibit the structural characteristics of GDLs in a large scale size, particularly in the throughplane direction.…”

Section: Structural Characterization Of the Carbon Paper Gdlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Clamping Compression on the Mechanical Performance of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2022

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During all the assembly stages of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack, gas diffusion layers (GDLs) endure clamping loads in the through-plane direction several times. Under such complicated assembly conditions, GDLs have to deform with the changes in structure, surface roughness, pore size, etc. A comprehensive understanding of the compressive performance of GDLs at different clamping phases is crucial to the assembly process improvement of PEMFCs. Two typical clamping compression was designed and performed to get close to the actual assembly conditions of PEMFCs. The results indicate that the initial clamping compression and the magnitude of the maximum clamping load have great impacts on the segmented compressive properties of GDLs. The nonlinear compressive performance of the GDL is mainly attributed to the unique microstructural information. The rough surface morphology contributes to the initial compressive characteristics where the big strain along with the small stress occurs, and the irreversible failures such as carbon fiber breakages and adhesive failures between fibers and binders account for the hysteresis between different compression stages. Importantly, it is found that the clamping compression hardly influences the small pore distribution below 175 μm but affects the large pore distribution over 200 μm.

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Section: Structural Characterization Of the Carbon Paper Gdlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Clamping Compression on the Mechanical Performance of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

et al. 2022

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“…Surface structure of BPs was suggested to be monitored in depth using atomic force microscopy, since research publications reported substrate surface roughness and porosity on coating surface ability and electrical resistivity reduction. 2,52 Volume electrical conductivity or through-plane conductivity was also measured. PPC 1, PPC 2, and PPC 3 provided 1.20, 0.69, and 0.47 S cm À1 of the volume electrical conductivity.…”

Section: Possibility Of Using the Copper Coated Composites As Bipolar Platesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 DMFC performance is theoretically determined by concerning losses of cell voltage as indicated in the following equations. 2,3 E cell ¼ E À h act À h ohmic,m À h ohmic,BP À h ohmic,GDL À h conc (1) where h act represents the activation loss which is the voltage loss associated with electrochemical reactions occuring in the cathode and anode sides, and h conc is the concentration loss depending on limitation of mass transfer. The ohmic loss or resistive loss, due to resistance of the membrane, BPs, and gas diffusion layers, are dened by h ohm,m , h ohm,BP and h ohm,GDL respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to eqn (1), the ohmic loss mainly occurs because of material resistance (eqn (2)) including the resistance to ow of electrons through materials (R electronics ), the resistance to ow of ions in a membrane electrolyte (R ionic ), and contact resistance between cell components (R contact ). 4 R materials ¼ R electronics + R ionic + R contact (2) Many factors affect the contact resistance such as surface morphology of cell components, contact pressure at the material interfaces, the electrical conductivity of components, corrosion resistance of surface coating, corrosion resistance of gas diffusion layer and bipolar plate, 2 clamping force, and surface roughness. 5 In terms of surface morphology of GDLs and BPs, their surfaces are required to be as smooth as possible in order to enhance contact areas between them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polishing BP surface is a choice for consideration to reduce the surface roughness, there is a case study on polishing commercial BPs (BMC 940-8649 at composite plaques). 6 When the plaques were polished by grit-600 sandpaper with thickness reduction from 1.00 mm to 0.76 mm, the contact resistance of BMC decreased from 32 mU cm 2 to 24 mU cm 2 . Increasing surface electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance is another interesting approach for decreasing the contact resistance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Studies on surface modification of polypropylene composite bipolar plates using an electroless deposition technique

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Methods to Measure the Electrical Resistances of a Gas Diffusion Layer Under Mechanical Compression

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et al. 2024

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In a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (FC), the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is identified as the component that is most affected by mechanical compression. In this article, a particular focus is provided on the methods to measure the three main electrical parameters—contact resistance, through‐plane resistance, and in‐plane resistance—of the GDL under compression. A nonlinear decrease of these resistances under compression is typically observed. In particular, an important decrease is observed from 0 to 2 MPa, then a lower one above 2 MPa. The smallest contact and in‐plane resistances are measured for the graphitized straight carbon papers analyzing GDL resistances under compression gives a first approach to explaining ohmic losses in FCs as a large part of these losses is related to the GDL. This review would be helpful for researchers in better understanding ohmic losses and establishing a database of main GDL electrical resistances and their variations according to several operating parameters. These data could be used in design models to optimize GDL properties.

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Interfacial contact resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Recent developments and challenges

Cited by 47 publications

References 157 publications

Effect of Clamping Compression on the Mechanical Performance of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Effect of Clamping Compression on the Mechanical Performance of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Studies on surface modification of polypropylene composite bipolar plates using an electroless deposition technique

Methods to Measure the Electrical Resistances of a Gas Diffusion Layer Under Mechanical Compression

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