Energy efficiency improvements by investigating the water flooding management on proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), Energy (2019), doi:

No abstract

This investigation provides a critical analysis of the development of PEM fuel cells and related research with specific focus on the membrane material. The catalytic membrane is the most important component of the PEMFC giving rise to the need for the use of efficient, durable and cheap material to reduce the overall cost of the fuel cell. In this work, the need for materials other than Nafion to be used as PEM membranes is established and a case for the use of composite membranes material in fuel cells is made. Composite membranes increase the cell voltage by up to 11% even at high cell operating temperature of 95°C. They also increase the overall performance of the cell by up to 17% when dry hydrogen is utilised.Non-fluorinated membranes are also suitable for use in fuel cells for portable applications but they are very expensive and less conductive. Partially fluorinated membranes have good mechanical stability but expensive. The fluorinated membrane has high stability under oxidation and reduction conditions. Unfortunately, they only reach their optimum performance at ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1 temperatures below 100°C which makes them of limited use in PEM fuel cells application at higher temperatures.

No abstract

Environmental concerns of greenhouse gases (GHG) effect from fossil commodities and the fast increase in global energy demand have created awareness on the need to replace fossil fuels with other sources of clean energy. PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising source of energy to replace fossil fuels. The commercialization of the cell depends on its price, weight and mechanical strength. Bipolar plates are among the main components of PEMFC which perform some significant functions in the fuel cell stack. Metal bipolar plate is considered by the research community as the future material for fuel cells. However, surface coating is required for metals to enhance its corrosion resistance, hydrophilicity and interfacial contact resistance (ICR) in PEM fuel cells. Open pore cellular metal foam (OPCMF) materials have been used to replace the conventional flow field channel in recent times due to its low electrical resistance, high specific area and high porosity; however, it endures the same corrosion problem as the metallic bipolar plate. This investigation offers an overview on different types of bipolar plates and techniques in coating metallic bipolar platse and open pore metal foam as flow field channel materials to improve the corrosion resistance which will eventually increase the efficiency of the fuel cell appreciably.