Title: Understanding Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells Using Coupled Continuum and Pore-Network Models

Abstract

Water management remains a critical issue for polymer electrolyte fuel cell performance and durability, especially at lower temperatures and with ultrathin electrodes. To understand and explain experimental observations better, water transport in gas diffusion layers (GDLs) with macroscopically heterogeneous morphologies was simulated using a novel coupling of continuum and pore-network models. X-ray computed tomography was used to extract GDL material parameters for use in the pore-network model. The simulations were conducted to explain experimental observations associated with stacking of anode GDLs, where stacking of the anode GDLs increased the limiting current density. Through imaging, it is shown that the stacked anode GDL exhibited an interfacial region of high porosity. The coupled model shows that this morphology allowed more efficient water movement through the anode and higher temperatures at the cathode compared to the single GDL case. As a result, the cathode exhibited less flooding and hence better low temperature performance with the stacked anode GDL.

Authors:

Medici, Ezequiel F. ^[1]; Zenyuk, Iryna V. ^[2]; Parkinson, D. Y. ^[3]; Weber, A. Z. ^[4]; Allen, J. S. ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
2. Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Conversion Group, Energy Technologies Area

Publication Date:

Wed Apr 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:

1506262

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-05CH11231; EE0005667

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Fuel Cells

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 16; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1615-6846

Publisher:

Elsevier

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 42 ENGINEERING; Continuum Model; Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells; Pore‐network Model; Water and Thermal Management; X‐ray Computed Tomography