Effect of Microporous Layer Ink Homogenisation on the Through-Plane Gas Permeability of PEFC Porous Media

Narvin D. Neehall, Mohammed S. Ismail, Kevin J. Hughes () and Mohamed Pourkashanian
Additional contact information
Narvin D. Neehall: ICSI Energy, National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenic and Isotopic Technologies, 240050 Ramnicu Valcea, Romania
Mohammed S. Ismail: School of Engineering, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
Kevin J. Hughes: Energy Institute, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RD, UK
Mohamed Pourkashanian: Energy Institute, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RD, UK

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: The through-plane gas permeability and morphology of PEFC gas diffusion media (GDM) is investigated for different microporous layer (MPL) ink homogenisation techniques (bath sonication and magnetic stirring) for low- (Vulcan XC-72R) and high (Ketjenblack EC-300J)-surface-area carbon powders. The MPL composition is held constant at 80 wt.% carbon powder and 20 wt.% PTFE for a carbon loading of 1.0 mg cm −2 . The MPL ink homogenisation time is held constant at two hours for both techniques and increased by one hour for bath sonication to compare with previous investigations. The results show that the through-plane gas permeability of the GDM is approximately doubled using magnetic stirring when compared with bath sonication for MPLs composed of Vulcan XC-72R, with a negligible change in surface morphology between the structures produced from either homogenisation technique. The variation in through-plane gas permeability is almost negligible for MPLs composed of Ketjenblack EC-300J compared with Vulcan XC-72R; however, MPL surface morphology changes considerably with bath sonication, producing smoother, less cracked surfaces compared to the large cracks produced via magnetic stirring for a large-surface-area carbon powder. An MPL ink sonication time of three hours results in a percentage reduction in through-plane gas permeability from the GDL substrate permeability by ~72% for Ketjenblack EC-300J compared to ~47% for two hours.

Keywords: PEFC; gas permeability; gas diffusion layer; microporous layer; MPL ink homogenisation (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/16/5944/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/16/5944/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:16:p:5944-:d:1215518

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().