Performance improvement of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells by introducing in-plane transport enhancement layers

Kang, Zhenye; Yu, Shule; Yang, Gaoqiang; Li, Yifan; Bender, Guido; Pivovar, Bryan S.; Green, Johney; Zhang, Feng-Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2019.05.096

Performance improvement of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells by introducing in-plane transport enhancement layers

Journal Article · Wed May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Electrochimica Acta

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2019.05.096· OSTI ID:1524323

Kang, Zhenye ^[1]; Yu, Shule ^[2]; Yang, Gaoqiang ^[2]; Li, Yifan ^[2]; Bender, Guido ^[3]; Pivovar, Bryan S. ^[3]; ^[3]; Zhang, Feng-Yuan ^[2]

Univ. of Tennessee Space Inst. (UTSI), Tullahoma, TN (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee Space Inst. (UTSI), Tullahoma, TN (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Thin/tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) or porous transport layers (TT-PTLs), have exhibited superior multifunctional performance in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), which can be attributed to their unique structures, such as planar surface, straight-through pores, thin thickness, etc. For achieving better PEMEC performance, TT-LGDLs with smaller pore size are desired. However, in this case, mass diffusion issues are brought in when some of the pores are covered by the flow field lands or shoulders. The coverage of the pores can lead to very high transport resistance, which may reduce the number of active oxygen evolution reaction sites, and therefore lower down the PEMEC performance. The in-plane transport enhancement layer for TT-LGDLs/PTLs are proposed to develop a dual-layer LGDL/PTL structure for improving the mass diffusion and the PEMEC performance. The results of this research reveal that the dual-layer LGDL/PTL structure exhibits smaller ohmic resistance and mass transport resistance, and therefore improve the PEMEC performance, without obvious changes in kinetic losses. The total ohmic resistance and mass transport resistance can be reduced by about 23% and 41%, respectively, with an ~830 um pore TT-LGDL/PTL stacking on a ~100 um pore TT-LGDL/PTL. The results indicate the feasibility of stacking the in-plane transport enhancement layer with large pore sizes onto a small pore TT-LGDLs/PTLs for high efficiency and low cost PEMEC practical applications.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Fuel Cell Technologies Program (EE-3F)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; EE0008426; FE0011585

OSTI ID:: 1524323

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1523667

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5900-74039

Journal Information:: Electrochimica Acta, Journal Name: Electrochimica Acta Journal Issue: C Vol. 316; ISSN 0013-4686

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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