IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v171y2016icp200-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of the pore size variation in the substrate of the gas diffusion layer on water management and fuel cell performance

Author

Listed:
  • Park, Jaeman
  • Oh, Hwanyeong
  • Lee, Yoo Il
  • Min, Kyoungdoug
  • Lee, Eunsook
  • Jyoung, Jy-Young

Abstract

The gas diffusion layer (GDL) is a key component of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell due to its role as a pathway for fuel, air, and water. GDL determines the mass balance and water management in the PEM fuel cell. Thus, an investigation of the optimal structural characteristics of the GDL with improved water management is important to ensure high performance of the PEM fuel cell. In this study, a PEM fuel cell model that considers the structural characteristics of GDL is developed, and the various the GDL structural characteristics are analyzed and validated. Specifically, the effects of pore size variation in the substrate of the GDL on water management and cell performance are investigated. Two GDL samples with different pore sizes are evaluated according to the porosity, pore size, thickness, and internal contact angle to understand the basic structural characteristics of the GDL. The GDL structural parameters with the basic characteristics are incorporated into the developed model. The cell performance is predicted to be relative to the two-phase mass transport inside the GDL. The characteristics of the micro-porous layer (MPL) and MPL penetration part are found to be affected by the variation in the macro-pore size of the substrate. The water management capability of the GDL varies with these differences with respect to water retention and removal characteristics. Under the condition of relative humidity (RH) 100%, the averaged saturation value of the MPL and MPL penetration part of the GDL with small macro-pore in the substrate is 18.8% higher than that of the GDL with large macro-pore in the substrate. The cell performance is also affected by the operating conditions of relative humidity and current load. The voltage of the GDL with small macro-pore in the substrate at the current density of 1.6A/cm2 is 10.3% lower than that of the GDL with large macro-pore in the substrate under RH 100%.

Suggested Citation

  • Park, Jaeman & Oh, Hwanyeong & Lee, Yoo Il & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2016. "Effect of the pore size variation in the substrate of the gas diffusion layer on water management and fuel cell performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 200-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:200-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.132
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916302884
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.132?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cho, Junhyun & Park, Jaeman & Oh, Hwanyeong & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2013. "Analysis of the transient response and durability characteristics of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with different micro-porous layer penetration thicknesses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 300-309.
    2. Pratt, Joseph W. & Klebanoff, Leonard E. & Munoz-Ramos, Karina & Akhil, Abbas A. & Curgus, Dita B. & Schenkman, Benjamin L., 2013. "Proton exchange membrane fuel cells for electrical power generation on-board commercial airplanes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 776-796.
    3. Ismail, M.S. & Hughes, K.J. & Ingham, D.B. & Ma, L. & Pourkashanian, M., 2012. "Effects of anisotropic permeability and electrical conductivity of gas diffusion layers on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 50-63.
    4. Oh, Hwanyeong & Park, Jaeman & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2015. "Effects of pore size gradient in the substrate of a gas diffusion layer on the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 186-193.
    5. Wang, Yun & Chen, Ken S. & Mishler, Jeffrey & Cho, Sung Chan & Adroher, Xavier Cordobes, 2011. "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 981-1007, April.
    6. Hosseinzadeh, Elham & Rokni, Masoud & Rabbani, Abid & Mortensen, Henrik Hilleke, 2013. "Thermal and water management of low temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell in fork-lift truck power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 434-444.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siavashi, Javad & Mahdaviara, Mehdi & Shojaei, Mohammad Javad & Sharifi, Mohammad & Blunt, Martin J., 2024. "Segmentation of two-phase flow X-ray tomography images to determine contact angle using deep autoencoders," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    2. Mo, Jingke & Kang, Zhenye & Yang, Gaoqiang & Retterer, Scott T. & Cullen, David A. & Toops, Todd J. & Green, Johney B. & Zhang, Feng-Yuan, 2016. "Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 817-822.
    3. Samir De, Biswajit & Cunningham, Joshua & Khare, Neeraj & Luo, Jing-Li & Elias, Anastasia & Basu, Suddhasatwa, 2022. "Hydrogen generation and utilization in a two-phase flow membraneless microfluidic electrolyzer-fuel cell tandem operation for micropower application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    4. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    5. Blandy Pamplona Solis & Julio César Cruz Argüello & Leopoldo Gómez Barba & Mayra Polett Gurrola & Zakaryaa Zarhri & Danna Lizeth TrejoArroyo, 2019. "Bibliometric Analysis of the Mass Transport in a Gas Diffusion Layer in PEM Fuel Cells," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Yanzhou Qin & Xuefeng Wang & Rouxian Chen & Xiang Shangguan, 2018. "Water Transport and Removal in PEMFC Gas Flow Channel with Various Water Droplet Locations and Channel Surface Wettability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Yan, Xiaohui & Lin, Chen & Zheng, Zhifeng & Chen, Junren & Wei, Guanghua & Zhang, Junliang, 2020. "Effect of clamping pressure on liquid-cooled PEMFC stack performance considering inhomogeneous gas diffusion layer compression," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    8. Fang, Yuan & Zhang, Tingting & Wang, Yonghui & Chen, Yuanzhen & Liu, Yan & Wu, Wenling & Zhu, Jianfeng, 2020. "The highly efficient cathode of framework structural Fe2O3/Mn2O3 in passive direct methanol fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    9. Ewa Janicka & Michal Mielniczek & Lukasz Gawel & Kazimierz Darowicki, 2021. "Optimization of the Relative Humidity of Reactant Gases in Hydrogen Fuel Cells Using Dynamic Impedance Measurements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-11, May.
    10. Qiu, Diankai & Janßen, Holger & Peng, Linfa & Irmscher, Philipp & Lai, Xinmin & Lehnert, Werner, 2018. "Electrical resistance and microstructure of typical gas diffusion layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cell under compression," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 127-137.
    11. Song Yan & Mingyang Yang & Chuanyu Sun & Sichuan Xu, 2023. "Liquid Water Characteristics in the Compressed Gradient Porosity Gas Diffusion Layer of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Chang, Yafei & Qin, Yanzhou & Yin, Yan & Zhang, Junfeng & Li, Xianguo, 2018. "Humidification strategy for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells – A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 643-662.
    13. Zhao, Jian & Shahgaldi, Samaneh & Alaefour, Ibrahim & Xu, Qian & Li, Xianguo, 2018. "Gas permeability of catalyzed electrodes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 203-210.
    14. Zhang, Jingjing & Wang, Biao & Jin, Junhong & Yang, Shenglin & Li, Guang, 2022. "A review of the microporous layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Materials and structural designs based on water transport mechanism," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    15. Niu, Zhiqiang & Bao, Zhiming & Wu, Jingtian & Wang, Yun & Jiao, Kui, 2018. "Two-phase flow in the mixed-wettability gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 443-450.
    16. Jiao, Daokuan & Jiao, Kui & Zhong, Shenghui & Du, Qing, 2022. "Investigations on heat and mass transfer in gas diffusion layers of PEMFC with a gas–liquid-solid coupled model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    17. Wong, A.K.C. & Ge, N. & Shrestha, P. & Liu, H. & Fahy, K. & Bazylak, A., 2019. "Polytetrafluoroethylene content in standalone microporous layers: Tradeoff between membrane hydration and mass transport losses in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 549-560.
    18. Wu, Horng-Wen & Shih, Gin-Jang & Chen, Yi-Bin, 2018. "Effect of operational parameters on transport and performance of a PEM fuel cell with the best protrusive gas diffusion layer arrangement," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 47-58.
    19. Islam, Mohammad Rafiqul & Shabani, Bahman & Rosengarten, Gary, 2016. "Nanofluids to improve the performance of PEM fuel cell cooling systems: A theoretical approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 660-671.
    20. Deng, Hao & Wang, Dawei & Wang, Renfang & Xie, Xu & Yin, Yan & Du, Qing & Jiao, Kui, 2016. "Effect of electrode design and operating condition on performance of hydrogen alkaline membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1272-1278.
    21. Li, Yuehua & Pei, Pucheng & Wu, Ziyao & Ren, Peng & Jia, Xiaoning & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Shangwei, 2018. "Approaches to avoid flooding in association with pressure drop in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 42-51.
    22. He, Pu & Mu, Yu-Tong & Park, Jae Wan & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2020. "Modeling of the effects of cathode catalyst layer design parameters on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    23. Wang, Qing-Hui & Yang, Song & Zhou, Wei & Li, Jing-Rong & Xu, Zhi-Jia & Ke, Yu-Zhi & Yu, Wei & Hu, Guang-Hua, 2018. "Optimizing the porosity configuration of porous copper fiber sintered felt for methanol steam reforming micro-reactor based on flow distribution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 243-261.
    24. Kim, Jaeyeon & Kim, Hyeok & Song, Hyeonjun & Kim, Dasol & Kim, Geon Hwi & Im, Dasom & Jeong, Youngjin & Park, Taehyun, 2021. "Carbon nanotube sheet as a microporous layer for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mo, Jingke & Kang, Zhenye & Yang, Gaoqiang & Retterer, Scott T. & Cullen, David A. & Toops, Todd J. & Green, Johney B. & Zhang, Feng-Yuan, 2016. "Thin liquid/gas diffusion layers for high-efficiency hydrogen production from water splitting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 817-822.
    2. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Yang, Jiapei & Ma, Xiao & Zhuge, Weilin & Shuai, Shijin, 2022. "Modelling and analysis on effects of penetration of microporous layer into gas diffusion layer in PEM fuel cells: Focusing on mass transport," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    3. Pei, Pucheng & Chen, Huicui, 2014. "Main factors affecting the lifetime of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells in vehicle applications: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 60-75.
    4. Cho, Junhyun & Park, Jaeman & Oh, Hwanyeong & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2013. "Analysis of the transient response and durability characteristics of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with different micro-porous layer penetration thicknesses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 300-309.
    5. Samir De, Biswajit & Cunningham, Joshua & Khare, Neeraj & Luo, Jing-Li & Elias, Anastasia & Basu, Suddhasatwa, 2022. "Hydrogen generation and utilization in a two-phase flow membraneless microfluidic electrolyzer-fuel cell tandem operation for micropower application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    6. Oh, Hwanyeong & Park, Jaeman & Min, Kyoungdoug & Lee, Eunsook & Jyoung, Jy-Young, 2015. "Effects of pore size gradient in the substrate of a gas diffusion layer on the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 186-193.
    7. Rabbani, Abid & Rokni, Masoud, 2013. "Effect of nitrogen crossover on purging strategy in PEM fuel cell systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1061-1070.
    8. Wang, Yang & Luo, Hui & Li, Guang & Jiang, Jianming, 2016. "Highly active platinum electrocatalyst towards oxygen reduction reaction in renewable energy generations of proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 59-66.
    9. Wan, Zhongmin & Liu, Jing & Luo, Zhiping & Tu, Zhengkai & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2013. "Evaluation of self-water-removal in a dead-ended proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 751-757.
    10. Wang, Qianqian & Tang, Fumin & Li, Bing & Dai, Haifeng & Zheng, Jim P. & Zhang, Cunman & Ming, Pingwen, 2022. "Investigation of the thermal responses under gas channel and land inside proton exchange membrane fuel cell with assembly pressure," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    11. Guida, D. & Minutillo, M., 2017. "Design methodology for a PEM fuel cell power system in a more electrical aircraft," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 446-456.
    12. Wu, Horng-Wen, 2016. "A review of recent development: Transport and performance modeling of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 81-106.
    13. Vasile, Nicolò S. & Doherty, Ronan & Monteverde Videla, Alessandro H.A. & Specchia, Stefania, 2016. "3D multi-physics modeling of a gas diffusion electrode for oxygen reduction reaction for electrochemical energy conversion in PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 435-450.
    14. Lin, Rui & Diao, Xiaoyu & Ma, Tiancai & Tang, Shenghao & Chen, Liang & Liu, Dengcheng, 2019. "Optimized microporous layer for improving polymer exchange membrane fuel cell performance using orthogonal test design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    15. Islam, M.R. & Shabani, B. & Rosengarten, G. & Andrews, J., 2015. "The potential of using nanofluids in PEM fuel cell cooling systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 523-539.
    16. Ye, Lingfeng & Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Microstructures and electrical conductivity properties of compressed gas diffusion layers using X-ray tomography," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    17. Marco Mariani & Andrea Basso Peressut & Saverio Latorrata & Riccardo Balzarotti & Maurizio Sansotera & Giovanni Dotelli, 2021. "The Role of Fluorinated Polymers in the Water Management of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Qiu, Diankai & Janßen, Holger & Peng, Linfa & Irmscher, Philipp & Lai, Xinmin & Lehnert, Werner, 2018. "Electrical resistance and microstructure of typical gas diffusion layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cell under compression," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 127-137.
    19. Chen, Yong-Song & Yang, Chih-Wei & Lee, Jiunn-Yih, 2014. "Implementation and evaluation for anode purging of a fuel cell based on nitrogen concentration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1519-1524.
    20. Kong, Im Mo & Jung, Aeri & Kim, Min Soo, 2016. "Investigations on the double gas diffusion backing layer for performance improvement of self-humidified proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 149-156.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:200-212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.