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Title: Direct Simulations of Pore-Scale Water Transport through Diffusion Media

Abstract

Here, a numerical framework is developed for simulating pore-scale liquid water transport in polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) diffusion media (DM) as measured by X-ray computed tomography. Accuracy of the model is evaluated by benchmarking it with micro-scale tomographic observations of liquid water in DM at different inlet pressures. Application of the model to nano-scale morphology of the micro porous layer (MPL) shows that cracks in MPL facilitate water management by keeping nano-pores dry. Simulations in macro-scale morphology of DM indicate that liquid water saturation is approximately two-times higher in DM without an MPL. This is shown to be a consequence of water accumulation in the middle-lower height of the DM in the absence of an MPL which is demonstrated to limit the water intrusion into DM. Simulation of the land-channel configuration shows water accumulation predominantly under the land of DM with an MPL whereas considerable amount of water is also observed under the channel without an MPL. Additionally, we performed direct reactant transport simulations showing that MPL facilitates significantly better O2 transport in wet DM (~ two-times higher formation factor in land-channel configuration) but it induces slightly less facile O2 transport in dry DM (12% lower formation factor).

Authors:
ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1489434
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1494601
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of the Electrochemical Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Journal Volume: 166 Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-4651
Publisher:
The Electrochemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
25 ENERGY STORAGE; Fuel Cells - PEM; Pore scale multiphase simulation; Water management with MPL; Water transport

Citation Formats

Cetinbas, Firat C., Ahluwalia, Rajesh K., Shum, Andrew D., and Zenyuk, Iryna V. Direct Simulations of Pore-Scale Water Transport through Diffusion Media. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1149/2.0011907jes.
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Cetinbas, Firat C., Ahluwalia, Rajesh K., Shum, Andrew D., & Zenyuk, Iryna V. Direct Simulations of Pore-Scale Water Transport through Diffusion Media. United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0011907jes
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Cetinbas, Firat C., Ahluwalia, Rajesh K., Shum, Andrew D., and Zenyuk, Iryna V. Thu . "Direct Simulations of Pore-Scale Water Transport through Diffusion Media". United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0011907jes.
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@article{osti_1489434,
title = {Direct Simulations of Pore-Scale Water Transport through Diffusion Media},
author = {Cetinbas, Firat C. and Ahluwalia, Rajesh K. and Shum, Andrew D. and Zenyuk, Iryna V.},
abstractNote = {Here, a numerical framework is developed for simulating pore-scale liquid water transport in polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) diffusion media (DM) as measured by X-ray computed tomography. Accuracy of the model is evaluated by benchmarking it with micro-scale tomographic observations of liquid water in DM at different inlet pressures. Application of the model to nano-scale morphology of the micro porous layer (MPL) shows that cracks in MPL facilitate water management by keeping nano-pores dry. Simulations in macro-scale morphology of DM indicate that liquid water saturation is approximately two-times higher in DM without an MPL. This is shown to be a consequence of water accumulation in the middle-lower height of the DM in the absence of an MPL which is demonstrated to limit the water intrusion into DM. Simulation of the land-channel configuration shows water accumulation predominantly under the land of DM with an MPL whereas considerable amount of water is also observed under the channel without an MPL. Additionally, we performed direct reactant transport simulations showing that MPL facilitates significantly better O2 transport in wet DM (~ two-times higher formation factor in land-channel configuration) but it induces slightly less facile O2 transport in dry DM (12% lower formation factor).},
doi = {10.1149/2.0011907jes},
journal = {Journal of the Electrochemical Society},
number = 7,
volume = 166,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {1}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0011907jes
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Cited by: 3 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Experimental data (green color) and simulated (blue color) liquid water volume distribution at 14 cm water pressure head (solid boundaries in computational domain is shown in gray color).
All figures and tables (9 total)
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