Effects of Cathode Gas Diffusion Layer Configuration on the Performance of Open Cathode Air-Cooled Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

Ming Peng, Enci Dong, Li Chen (), Yu Wang and Wen-Quan Tao
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Ming Peng: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Enci Dong: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Li Chen: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Yu Wang: Shanghai Sinofuelcell Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201499, China
Wen-Quan Tao: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-21

Abstract: The design of a gas diffusion layer (GDL) is an effective way to manage water transport, thus improving the performance of air-cooled fuel cells. In the present study, three group designs of GDL with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)—uniformly doped, in-planed sandwich doped and through-plane gradient doped—are proposed, and their effects on the performance of air-cooled fuel cells are explored by numerical simulation. The distribution of key physical quantities in the cathode catalyst layer (CCL), current density and the uniformity of current density distribution in the CCL were analyzed in detail. The results show that properly reducing the amount of PTFE in GDL is beneficial to promoting the water retaining capacity of air-cooled fuel cells, and then improving the performance of fuel cells. The performance of the in-plane sandwich GDL design cannot exceed the design with 10% PTFE uniformly doped, and this design will aggravate the uneven distribution of current density in CCL. Compared with the design of GDL with 40% PTFE uniformly doped, the current density can be improved by 22% when operating at 0.6 V by gradient increasing the PTFE content in GDL from the GDL/MPL interface to the gas channel. Furthermore, this design can maintain as good a current density uniformity as uniformly doping schemes.

Keywords: air-cooled fuel cell; gas diffusion layer; transport processes; water and thermal management; current density uniformity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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