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Electrical resistance and microstructure of typical gas diffusion layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cell under compression

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  • Qiu, Diankai
  • Janßen, Holger
  • Peng, Linfa
  • Irmscher, Philipp
  • Lai, Xinmin
  • Lehnert, Werner

Abstract

Electrical resistance accounts for a significant part of the performance loss in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work represents the first direct experimental investigation and comparison of the bulk resistance and microstructure of commercially available gas diffusion layers, carbon paper, carbon cloth and carbon felt, under cyclic and steady loads, which are typical compression conditions in the fuel cell. It was found that with the improvement of contact conductivity between gas diffusion layer and bipolar plate, the bulk resistance of gas diffusion layer accounts for as much as 20% of the resistance in the fuel cell, especially when the assembly pressure is high enough. Experimental results indicate that three kinds of gas diffusion layers show various electrical behaviors under compression due to their different fiber structures. For carbon paper, the resistance displays a gradual decline as the load cycles increases. A reduction in the resistance and obvious fiber cracks are observed when the compression pressure exceeds the “break stress” of 2.0 MPa. For woven carbon cloth, more uniform decline of the resistance is caused by the increasing fiber cracks, which are pulled and bent in the middle of a weave. Although felt gas diffusion layer features the lowest electrical conductivity, its tortuous and thick fibers lead to higher stability in electric resistance and microstructure than bonded carbon paper and woven carbon cloth. This study is helpful for enhancing our understanding of the relationship between electrical resistance and compression loads in the fuel cell with various gas diffusion layers.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:231:y:2018:i:c:p:127-137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.09.117
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zhou, Zihan & Qiu, Diankai & Zhai, Shuang & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2020. "Investigation of the assembly for high-power proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks through an efficient equivalent model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    3. 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).
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    5. Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Yi, Peiyun & Lehnert, Werner & Lai, Xinmin, 2021. "Review on proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack assembly: Quality evaluation, assembly method, contact behavior and process design," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. 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).
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    9. Zhang, Heng & Xiao, Liusheng & Chuang, Po-Ya Abel & Djilali, Ned & Sui, Pang-Chieh, 2019. "Coupled stress–strain and transport in proton exchange membrane fuel cell with metallic bipolar plates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Yang, Yange & Zhou, Xiangyang & Li, Bing & Zhang, Cunman, 2021. "Failure of cathode gas diffusion layer in 1 kW fuel cell stack under new European driving cycle," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    11. Bouziane, Khadidja & Khetabi, El Mahdi & Lachat, Rémy & Zamel, Nada & Meyer, Yann & Candusso, Denis, 2020. "Impact of cyclic mechanical compression on the electrical contact resistance between the gas diffusion layer and the bipolar plate of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 349-361.
    12. Jiang, Wei & Zhang, Kai & Huang, Xing & Cai, Zhen & Zheng, Jinjin & Kai, Yue & Zheng, Bailin & Song, Ke, 2024. "Influence of clamping pressure on contact pressure uniformity and electrical output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    13. Yanqin Chen & Yuchao Ke & Yingsong Xia & Chongdu Cho, 2021. "Investigation on Mechanical Properties of a Carbon Paper Gas Diffusion Layer through a 3-D Nonlinear and Orthotropic Constitutive Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. Isaac C. Okereke & Mohammed S. Ismail & Derek B. Ingham & Kevin Hughes & Lin Ma & Mohamed Pourkashanian, 2023. "Single- and Double-Sided Coated Gas Diffusion Layers Used in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: A Numerical Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, May.
    17. Wu, Ziyao & Pei, Pucheng & Xu, Huachi & Jia, Xiaoning & Ren, Peng & Wang, Bozheng, 2019. "Study on the effect of membrane electrode assembly parameters on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance by galvanostatic charging method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Ye, Lingfeng & Qiu, Diankai & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2024. "Conduction mechanism analysis and modeling of different gas diffusion layers for PEMFC to improve their bulk conductivities via microstructure design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).

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