scholarly journals Characterization of Effective In-Plane Electrical Resistivity of a Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells through Freeze–Thaw Thermal Cycles

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqin Chen ◽  
Chao Jiang ◽  
Chongdu Cho
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Thermal Cycles ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Freeze Thaw ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Electrical Degradation

The electrical property of gas diffusion layers (GDLs) plays a significant role in influencing the overall performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The electrical degradation performance of GDLs has not been reported sufficiently. Understanding the electrical degradation characteristics of GDLs is vital to better fuel cell performance, higher efficiency, and longer service time. This paper investigated the effective in-plane electrical resistivity of a commercial GDL by considering environmental and assembly conditions similar to those in use for the operation of PEMFCs. The effective in-plane electrical resistivity of the GDL, subjected to a series of freeze–thaw thermal cycles, was characterized to study its progressive electrical degradation with thermal cycles. Experimental results indicated that, under low compressive loads, the effective in-plane electrical resistivity of the commercial GDL showed weak anisotropy, and was greatly influenced by the transformation of carbon fiber connection in the porous layer. In particular, the thermal aging treatment on the GDL through the first 100 freeze–thaw cycles contributed a lot to its in-plane electrical degradation performance.

scholarly journals Effects of Freeze–Thaw Thermal Cycles on the Mechanical Degradation of the Gas Diffusion Layer in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqin Chen ◽  
Chao Jiang ◽  
Chongdu Cho
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Diffusion Layer ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Gas Diffusion Layer ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Mechanical Degradation ◽  
Thermal Cycles ◽  
Thermal Failure ◽  
Freeze Thaw ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane

In this paper, the mechanical degradation of a commercial gas diffusion layer subjected to repeated freeze–thaw thermal cycles is studied. In a fuel cell, the mechanical assembly state directly affects the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Particularly, the gas diffusion layer repeatedly withstands the complex heat and humidity environmental conditions in which the temperature and humidity are always greatly changed. Studying the three-dimensional mechanical degradation of gas diffusion layers due to orthotropic properties is very useful in extending the lifetime and durability of fuel cells. To investigate this, we first established the standard freeze–thaw thermal cycle and studied the gas diffusion layer’s mechanical degradation performance with up to 400 repeated freeze–thaw thermal cycles. Furthermore, different types of failure in the gas diffusion layer caused by the repeated thermal aging treatment were observed using a scanning electron microscope, to explain the change in the mechanical deterioration. As a result, the different thermal failure plays different roles in the explanation of the gas diffusion layer’s mechanical degradation under different thermal cycles. In particular, the thermal failure that resulted from the first 100 thermal cycles has the greatest effect on the compressive and tensile performance, compared to the shear behavior.

Effects of Microhydrophobic Porous Layer on Water Distribution in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzad Ahmadi ◽  
Ramin Roshandel
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
Cathode Side ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane

Performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) at high current densities is limited to transport reactants and products. Furthermore, large amounts of water are generated and may be condensed due to the low temperature of the PEMFC. Development of a two-phase flow model is necessary in order to predict water flooding and its effects on the PEMFC performance. In this paper, a multiphase mixture model (M2) is used, accurately, to model two-phase transport in porous media of a PEMFC. The cathode side, which includes channel, gas diffusion layer (GDL), microporous layer (MPL), and catalyst layer (CL), is considered as the computational domain. A multidomain approach has been used and transport equations are solved in each domain independently with appropriate boundary conditions between GDL and MPL. Distributions of species concentration, temperature, and velocity field are obtained, and the effects of MPL on species distribution and fuel cell performance are investigated. MPL causes a saturation jump and a discontinuity in oxygen concentration at the GDL/MPL interface. The effect of MPL thickness on fuel cell performance is also studied. The results revealed that the MPL can highly increase the maximum power of a PEMFC.

scholarly journals Highly durable Pt-free fuel cell catalysts prepared by multi-step pyrolysis of Fe phthalocyanine and phenolic resin

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1400-1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Nabae ◽  
Mayu Sonoda ◽  
Chiharu Yamauchi ◽  
Yo Hosaka ◽  
Ayano Isoda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Phenolic Resin ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
Cathode Catalyst ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Fuel Cell Catalysts

A Pt-free cathode catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells has been developed by multi-step pyrolysis of Fe phthalocyanine and phenolic resin and shows a quite promising fuel cell performance.

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