The interactive effect of heat and mass transport on water condensation in the gas diffusion layer of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Rahman, Azimur; Mojica, Felipe; Hussey, Daniel S.; Jacobson, David L.; LaManna, Jacob M.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2020.229121

Cited by 31 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…In addition, changes in oxygen transport resistance under flooded conditions were evaluated using limiting current analysis to consider the effect of water condensation on oxygen transport quantitatively. [17][18][19][20][21] Caulk et al suggested that the behaviors of oxygen transport resistance correlate well with the results of a onedimensional analysis of heat and water vapor transport which produced conditions of dry and wet. 17 Owejan et al observed nonuniform water distributions in a GDL by neutron radiography where a steady distribution is maintained adjacent to the ribs during the measurement of various limiting current densities.…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Component Analysis of Oxygen Transport Resistance Increased due to Water Accumulated in a PEFC

Iizuka¹,

Tabe²,

Kitami³

et al. 2022

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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To increase the power output of polymer electrolyte fuel cells, care in the water management is important. This study extends the limiting current analysis to evaluate the effects of condensed water in the oxygen transport resistance. The resistance increase by water accumulation is separated into pressure-dependent and pressure-independent components by introducing two indices determining the condensed water effects. The components approximately correspond to the transport resistances outside and inside of the catalyst layer (CL), respectively. The results show that both of the components increase from the low index region at 35°C. At 80°C, the increase in the pressure-dependent resistance is suppressed, while the pressure-independent resistance increases gradually as the current density increases. This gradual increase is confirmed in a cell with 1.0 mm wide channels, and the increase is suppressed with 0.3 mm wide channels. The observation of water distributions by a freezing method and cryo-SEM shows that there is ice at the interface between the micro-porous layer and CL only with the wider channel at 80°C. These suggest that poorer contact of the interface under the wider channel allows condensed water to accumulate and expand at the interface, disturbing the oxygen transport to the CL.

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mentioning

confidence: 87%

Component Analysis of Oxygen Transport Resistance Increased due to Water Accumulated in a PEFC

Iizuka¹,

Tabe²,

Kitami³

et al. 2022

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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“…To further illustrate the accuracy of the model, the total oxygen transport resistances have been validated in Figure 4. According to the Equation (6), 83 the total oxygen transport resistance (R O 2 ) is obtained and compared with the experimental work conducted by Caulk D A and Baker D R. [82] In Ref., 82 these experimental results for oxygen transport resistance were obtained by conducting the limiting current experiments. It should be noted that the relevant component parameters and operating conditions are the same as those provided by the experiment 82,84 so as to predict the total oxygen transport resistance accurately.…”

Section: Model Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐objective optimization of temperature uniformity in cathode catalyst layer and performance of PEMFC with an ionomer‐gradient design

Chang

Fan

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Temperature uniformity (TU) of the cathode catalyst layer (CCL) and the power density are two key parameters to describe a fuel cell durability and performance. To achieve desired TU and output performance, a one‐dimensional, non‐isothermal, two‐phase model coupled with a CCL agglomerate submodel is developed and validated in terms of the polarization curve, ohmic impedance and total oxygen transport resistance. Then, the ideal ionomer‐gradient distribution across the triple‐layer CCL is attained by a combination of Non‐dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA II) and TOPSIS. The results present that the gradient‐decline distribution of ionomer towards the microporous layer (MPL) contributes to the larger power density and effective utilization of ionomer. The fuel cell can also operate at higher power with a top voltage range (TVR). After optimization, the ideal ionomer‐gradient distribution affects the distribution of the total heat source by affecting the local oxygen transport resistance across the ionomer film and the volumetric current density (Jnormalc). As a result, the maximum temperature point in CCL is more likely to occur near the MPL and the CCL temperature becomes more uniform. Besides, the optimum ionomer‐gradient values tend to be different in various operating voltages and RH cases. However, low voltage and high RH conditions are more highly sensitive to the ionomer‐gradient design. It is possible to maintain a proper TU and desired output performance by optimizing the CCL gradient structure, especially for the stationary PEMFC that operates with a particular condition for a long time. Research Highlights A 1D, non‐isothermal, two‐phase model is validated from multiple aspects. Multi‐objective optimization is performed by combining the NSGA II and numerical model. More uniform CCL temperature and higher power density are achieved after optimization.

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“…Actually, aside from the effects of inlet gas RH at the anode and cathode, the operating pressure, reaction gas flow rate, flow field structure and material characteristics of GDL and catalyst layer can have a joint influence on the performance and durability of a PEMFC [22][23][24][25]. There have been some studies involving the impacts of multiple variables on PEMFCs or other applications, such as batteries [26][27][28][29].…”

Section: Effect Of Rh On the Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Inlet Gas Relative Humidity on Performance Characteristics of PEMFC Operating at Elevated Temperature

Chang

Zhang

et al. 2021

WEVJ

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Raising the operating temperature is considered to be an effective method to improve the output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this paper, the effects of inlet relative humidity in the anode (RHa) and cathode (RHc) on the polarization curve and impedance spectra of a single rotating serpentine PEMFC were investigated by experimental method at the operating temperature of 90 °C. It was found that the output performance is the smallest in the high RH case (RHa90%/RHc90%) due to the largest mass transfer resistance. However, the ohmic resistance in the dry case (RHa50%/RHc50%) is the highest, and it shows better output performance at more than 1.0 A/cm2 because of the lowest mass transfer resistance. The impact of the changes in the RHa value on the polarization curve is more apparent than that of the RHc changes at high current density. The largest power density can be attained and the efficiency can reach 24.4% when the RHa is 90% and RHc is 50%.

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The interactive effect of heat and mass transport on water condensation in the gas diffusion layer of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Cited by 31 publications

References 73 publications

Component Analysis of Oxygen Transport Resistance Increased due to Water Accumulated in a PEFC

Component Analysis of Oxygen Transport Resistance Increased due to Water Accumulated in a PEFC

Multi‐objective optimization of temperature uniformity in cathode catalyst layer and performance of PEMFC with an ionomer‐gradient design

Investigation of Inlet Gas Relative Humidity on Performance Characteristics of PEMFC Operating at Elevated Temperature

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