Water transport into PEFC gas diffusion layer: experimental characterization of diffusion and permeation

Bresciani, F.; Casalegno, Andrea; Varisco, Gabriele; Marchesi, R.

doi:10.1002/er.3065

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(53 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is known that water transport plays a vital role in determining fuel cell performance. Water balance in PEMFC should ensure a good trade-off between flooding avoidance and membrane hydration to reduce both ohmic and mass transfer losses [21]. Hence studies of water transport and water management both in CL and GDL/MPL always draw special attentions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of carbon corrosion on mass transfer losses in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Zhang

Yang

Guo

et al. 2017

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Carbon corrosion in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) causes not only kinetic degradation, but also damages to electrode microstructure and hydrophobicity, which can lead to increases in mass transport resistance. While much attention has been paid to catalyst degradation and kinetic losses, the increases in mass transfer loss is also a very serious problem and thus it is the focus of this work. To induce carbon corrosion, accelerated stress test (AST) by holding the cell potential at 1.4 V is used. The AST procedure is interrupted periodically to record cell performance after each period of AST at three different current densities. Experiment results show that at low current density, the decrease in cell voltage is linear with time of AST, but the rate in cell voltage decrease accelerates after some period of AST at medium and high current densities. It is hypothesized that such an accelerated voltage decrease is from the increase in mass transfer loss due to water flooding in the MEA. Further experiments with either reduced inlet air humidification or reduce air flow rate confirm that water flooding in the MEA is the cause for the sharp decline in cell voltages. A phenomenon that the cell voltage increases, or the rate in cell voltage reduction decreases as cell degradation progresses is repeatedly observed. It is determined that such a phenomenon is mainly caused by the enhanced phase-change-induced flow (PCI) due to the higher heat generation rate in a more severely degraded cell. The experimental results also provide some insights on how to optimize operating conditions for degraded fuel cells.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of carbon corrosion on mass transfer losses in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Zhang

Yang

Guo

et al. 2017

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The effective diffusion coefficient is corrected accounting for the porosity and the tortuosity of the GDL [4]. [26].…”

Section: Through Mea Subdomain In Steady Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resulting effective diffusion coefficient of oxygen is in the order of 0.03 cm 2 s -1 , similar to that reported in [25] where a value of 0.02 cm 2 s -1 is reported. The low value of the diffusion coefficient may be due to the presence of a microporous layer (MPL): a typical overall diffusion coefficient of GDL with MPL is in the range of 0.03 cm 2 s -1 [26].…”

Section: Through Mea Subdomain In Steady Statementioning

confidence: 99%

A Quasi 2D Model of a High Temperature Polymer Fuel Cell for the Interpretation of Impedance Spectra

2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a widely recognized tool for in situ diagnostics of polymer fuel cells. The main drawback of this measurement is that it includes several features, which are not directly related to physical phenomena and the interpretation is often difficult. In this work, a physical quasi 2D model is applied to experimental data of a high temperature proton exchange fuel cell based on polybenzimidazole doped with phosphoric acid. The quasi 2D approach is applied in order to decrease the computational cost of the model, without decreasing the prediction capability. The model is able to simulate polarization curves and impedance spectra and it is fitted on six polarization data and impedance spectra recorded in different conditions. The model is able to capture the main features of a typical spectrum of a polybenzimidazole based high temperature polymer fuel cell. A sensitivity analysis is also performed on the model parameters to show the effect of each physical parameter.

show abstract

“…From an experimental point of view, different effects on PEFC performance related to the fabrication processes of GDL are presented in Ref. , and parameters as porosity and permeability have been measured in Ref. .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting transport parameters in PEFC gas diffusion layers considering micro-architectural variations using the Lattice Boltzmann method

Espinoza

Andersson

Sundén

2016

Int. J. Energy Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary A deep understanding of the behavior of microstructural parameters in proton exchange fuel cells (PEFCs) will help to reduce the material cost and to predict the performance of the device at cell scale. Changes in morphological configuration, that is, fiber diameter and fiber orientation, of the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) result in variations of fluid behavior throughout the layer, and therefore, the microstructural parameters are affected. The aim of this study is to analyze, for three selected fiber diameters and different percentage presence of inclined fibers, the behavior of the different microstructural parameters of the GDLs. This study is carried out over digitally created two‐dimensional GDL models, in which the fluid behavior is obtained by means of the lattice Boltzmann method. Once the fluid behavior is determined, the microstructural parameters, that is, the porosity, gas‐phase tortuosity, obstruction factor, through‐plane permeability, and inertial coefficient, are computed. Several relationships are found to predict the behavior of such parameters as function of the fiber diameter, presence of inclined rods, or porosity. The results presented in this work are compared and validated by previous theoretical and experimental studies found in the literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Water transport into PEFC gas diffusion layer: experimental characterization of diffusion and permeation

Cited by 11 publications

References 32 publications

Effects of carbon corrosion on mass transfer losses in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Effects of carbon corrosion on mass transfer losses in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

A Quasi 2D Model of a High Temperature Polymer Fuel Cell for the Interpretation of Impedance Spectra

Predicting transport parameters in PEFC gas diffusion layers considering micro-architectural variations using the Lattice Boltzmann method

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About