Heterogeneous porosity distributions of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layer materials with rib-channel compression

Banerjee, Rupak; Hinebaugh, James; Liu, H.; Yip, Ronnie; Gao, Nan; Bazylak, Aimy

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.06.147

Cited by 68 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Using an X-ray energy level of 36 keV, a voxel resolution of 3.23 μm was achieved. Using an in-house segmentation algorithm [90], the MPL, carbon fiber, and void voxels were differentiated in a 5 mm × 5 mm region of the reconstructed greyscale μCT images. The thresholds for identifying each phase in the algorithm were determined based on the areal weights of MPL and carbon fiber in the GDL materials, given in the manufacturer's specifications [91].…”

Section: Gdl Porosity Characterization By X-ray Micro-computed Tomogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resolution of the tomographic scan was not sufficient to resolve the nano-scale pores in the MPL. The MPL was assumed to have a porosity of 50% [90,92,93].…”

Section: Gdl Porosity Characterization By X-ray Micro-computed Tomogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When an MPL is coated onto the carbon fiber substrate, the MPL intrudes into the carbon fiber substrate [90,[94][95][96][97], therefore there is not a clear physical boundary between these layers. The The volume fraction of void space within a porous material is defined as the porosity.…”

Section: Gdl Porosity Characterization By X-ray Micro-computed Tomogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Muirhead

Banerjee

George

et al. 2018

Electrochimica Acta

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In this thesis, the relative humidity (RH) of the cathode reactant gas was investigated as a factor which influences gas diffusion layer (GDL) liquid water accumulation and mass transport-related efficiency losses over a range of operating current densities in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Limiting current measurements were used to characterize fuel cell oxygen transport resistance while simultaneous measurements of liquid water accumulation were conducted using synchrotron X-ray radiography. GDL porosity distributions were characterized with micro-computed tomography (μCT). The work presented here can be used by researchers to develop improved numerical models to predict GDL liquid water accumulation and to inform the design of next-generation GDL materials to mitigate mass transport-related efficiency losses. This work also contributes an extensive set of concurrent performance and liquid water visualization data to the PEM fuel cell field that can be used for validating multiphase transport models.iii

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Section: Gdl Porosity Characterization By X-ray Micro-computed Tomogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resolution of the tomographic scan was not sufficient to resolve the nano-scale pores in the MPL. The MPL was assumed to have a porosity of 50% [90,92,93].…”

Section: Gdl Porosity Characterization By X-ray Micro-computed Tomogrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Muirhead

Banerjee

George

et al. 2018

Electrochimica Acta

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“…X-ray computed tomography (XCT) allows one to resolve the internal structure and inhomogeneity under controlled conditions. This method has been used to analyse the effects of compression on the morphological properties of GDL materials, such as porosity, pore size distribution, and tortuosity [10]- [13]. Studies report that the porosity of GDLs decreased with compression, leading to reduction in mass transport properties and subsequent cell performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of compression on the water management of polymer electrolyte fuel cells: An in-operando neutron radiography study

Cho

et al. 2019

Journal of Power Sources

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In-depth understanding of the effect of compression on the water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) is indispensable for optimisation of performance and durability. Here, in-operando neutron radiography is utilised to evaluate the liquid water distribution and transport within a PEFC under different levels of compression. A quantitative analysis is presented with the influence of compression on the water droplet number and median droplet surface area across the entire electrode area. Water management and performance of PEFCs is strongly affected by the compression: the cell compressed at 1.0 MPa demonstrates ~3.2% and ~7.8% increase in the maximum power density over 1.8 MPa and 2.3 MPa, respectively. Correlation of performance to neutron radiography reveals that the performance deviation in the mass transport region is likely due to flooding issues. This could be ascribed to the loss of the porosity and increased tortuosity factor of the gas diffusion layer under the land at higher compression pressure. The size and number of droplets formed as a function of cell compression was examined: with higher compression pressure, water droplet number and median droplet surface area rapidly increase, showing the ineffective water removal, which leads to fuel starvation and the consequent performance decay.

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“…Favorable characteristics of GDL and CL are required for improved gas diffusivity and thermal management in the cell. Various studies have been done experimentally to analyze the physical and thermal effects of GDLs on PEMFC performance [7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Figure 1 Schematic Of Pem Fuel Cellmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large scale model predictions on the effect of GDL thermal conductivity and porosity on PEM fuel cell performance

Rehman¹,

Zafar²

2017

J. Electrochem. Sci. Eng.

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Heterogeneous porosity distributions of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layer materials with rib-channel compression

Cited by 68 publications

References 37 publications

Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Liquid water saturation and oxygen transport resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers

Effect of compression on the water management of polymer electrolyte fuel cells: An in-operando neutron radiography study

Large scale model predictions on the effect of GDL thermal conductivity and porosity on PEM fuel cell performance

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