IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v293y2024ics0360544224003712.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pore-scale study of water and mass transport characteristic in anion exchange membrane fuel cells with anisotropic gas diffusion layer

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Fangju
  • Cai, Shanshan
  • Li, Song
  • Luo, Xiaobing
  • Tu, Zhengkai

Abstract

The complicated microporous structure and spatial distribution characteristics of the gas diffusion layer have crucial impacts on the water management of an anion-exchange membrane fuel cell, in which water is produced at the anode and consumed at the cathode. Consequently, a three-dimensional pore network model is developed to numerically simulate hydrogen transport and liquid water removal in the anode gas diffusion layer. Anisotropy is an important property of the gas diffusion layer, and the quasi-static two-phase transport within the anisotropic GDL is investigated from various perspectives. Pore-scale simulations demonstrate that the variation of the relative diffusion coefficient with saturation can be described as g(S)= (1-S)2.3, and the relative permeability varies with saturation in the range of S1.5 and S3. What's more, high anisotropy has a positive effect on both hydrogen and liquid water transport, if the anisotropy parameter is increased from 1 to 1.55, the relative diffusion coefficient and water permeability at all thicknesses are increased by more than 11% and 16%, respectively. However, in practice, high anisotropy is detrimental to the liquid water removal under the rib. Moreover, wettability distribution has a negligible effect on two-phase transport within the highly anisotropic GDL, while the effect of thickness remains significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Fangju & Cai, Shanshan & Li, Song & Luo, Xiaobing & Tu, Zhengkai, 2024. "Pore-scale study of water and mass transport characteristic in anion exchange membrane fuel cells with anisotropic gas diffusion layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:293:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224003712
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.130599
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224003712
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2024.130599?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. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Xiong, Mu & Ye, Yuntao & Yang, Xi, 2023. "Three-dimensional multi-phase simulation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance considering constriction straight channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    2. Yu, Yang & Chen, Sheng & Wu, Yuanhao, 2023. "Predicting gas diffusion layer flow information in proton exchange membrane fuel cells from cross-sectional data using deep learning methods," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Deng, Hao & Wang, Dawei & Xie, Xu & Zhou, Yibo & Yin, Yan & Du, Qing & Jiao, Kui, 2016. "Modeling of hydrogen alkaline membrane fuel cell with interfacial effect and water management optimization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 166-177.
    4. Huang, Ying & Song, Jiangnan & Deng, Xinyue & Chen, Su & Zhang, Xiang & Ma, Zongpeng & Chen, Lunjun & Wu, Yanli, 2023. "Numerical investigation of baffle shape effects on performance and mass transfer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    5. Laoun, Brahim & Kasat, Harshal A. & Ahmad, Riaz & Kannan, Arunachala M., 2018. "Gas diffusion layer development using design of experiments for the optimization of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 689-695.
    6. Horie Adabi & Abolfazl Shakouri & Noor Ul Hassan & John R. Varcoe & Barr Zulevi & Alexey Serov & John R. Regalbuto & William E. Mustain, 2021. "High-performing commercial Fe–N–C cathode electrocatalyst for anion-exchange membrane fuel cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(8), pages 834-843, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sun, Yun & Lin, Yixiong & Wang, Qinglian & Yang, Chen & Yin, Wang & Wan, Zhongmin & Qiu, Ting, 2024. "Novel design and numerical investigation of a windward bend flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Wang, Yonggang & Gu, Meng & Yang, Xi & Zhang, Shuanyang & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming, 2024. "Performance and configuration optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell considering dual symmetric Tesla valve flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    3. Zhu, Xinning & Liu, Rongkang & Su, Liang & Wang, Xi & Chu, Xuyang & Ma, Yao & Wu, Linjing & Song, Guangji & Zhou, Wei, 2023. "Synergistic mass transfer and performance stability of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with traveling wave flow channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    4. Cha, Dowon & Yang, Wonseok & Kim, Yongchan, 2019. "Performance improvement of self-humidifying PEM fuel cells using water injection at various start-up conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 514-524.
    5. Liu, Huize & Hu, Zunyan & Li, Jianqiu & Xu, Liangfei & Shao, Yangbin & Ouyang, Minggao, 2023. "Investigation on the optimal GDL thickness design for PEMFCs considering channel/rib geometry matching and operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    6. Bhosale, Amit C. & Rengaswamy, Raghunathan, 2019. "Interfacial contact resistance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Recent developments and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    7. Binyamin, Binyamin & Lim, Ocktaeck, 2024. "A comparative study of streamlined flow channels with water drop block configurations and their effects on temperature profiles, mass transport characteristics, and performance in PEM fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    8. Iván E. Villalón-Turrubiates & Rogelio López-Herrera & Jorge L. García-Alcaraz & José R. Díaz-Reza & Arturo Soto-Cabral & Iván González-Lazalde & Gerardo Grijalva-Avila & José L. Rodríguez-Álvarez, 2022. "A Non-Invasive Method to Evaluate Fuzzy Process Capability Indices via Coupled Applications of Artificial Neural Networks and the Placket–Burman DOE," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(16), pages 1-27, August.
    9. 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).
    10. Lin, Rui & Wang, Hong & Zhu, Yu, 2021. "Optimizing the structural design of cathode catalyst layer for PEM fuel cells for improving mass-specific power density," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    11. Sarjuni, C.A. & Lim, B.H. & Majlan, E.H. & Rosli, M.I., 2024. "A review: Fluid dynamic and mass transport behaviour in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Cheng, Chaochao & Yang, Zirong & Liu, Zhi & Tongsh, Chasen & Zhang, Guobin & Xie, Biao & He, Shaoqing & Jiao, Kui, 2021. "Numerical investigation on the feasibility of metal foam as flow field in alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    13. Ingabire, Providence Buregeya & Pan, Xueting & Haragirimana, Alphonse & Li, Na & Hu, Zhaoxia & Chen, Shouwen, 2020. "Improved hydroxide conductivity and performance of nanocomposite membrane derived on quaternized polymers incorporated by titanium dioxide modified graphitic carbon nitride for fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 590-600.
    14. Wang, Bowen & Deng, Hao & Jiao, Kui, 2018. "Purge strategy optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with anode recirculation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Xingdong Wang & Xuerui Liu & Jinjie Fang & Houpeng Wang & Xianwei Liu & Haiyong Wang & Chengjin Chen & Yongsheng Wang & Xuejiang Zhang & Wei Zhu & Zhongbin Zhuang, 2024. "Tuning the apparent hydrogen binding energy to achieve high-performance Ni-based hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Yang, Xi & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming & Cao, Jing, 2024. "Investigation on performance of full-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Porous foam flow field with integrated bipolar plate/gas diffusion layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    17. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Yang, Xi & Wang, Zhuo & Zhang, Shuanyang & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming, 2024. "Full-scale three-dimensional simulation of air cooling metal bipolar plate proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack considering a non-isothermal multiphase model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    18. Shen, Yuanting & Yan, Xiaohui & An, Liang & Shen, Shuiyun & An, Lu & Zhang, Junliang, 2022. "Portable proton exchange membrane fuel cell using polyoxometalates as multi-functional hydrogen carrier," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    19. 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.
    20. Herranz, D. & Escudero-Cid, R. & Montiel, M. & Palacio, C. & Fatás, E. & Ocón, P., 2018. "Poly (vinyl alcohol) and poly (benzimidazole) blend membranes for high performance alkaline direct ethanol fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 883-895.

    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:energy:v:293:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224003712. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.