A novel hydrophilic-modified gas diffusion layer for proton exchange membrane fuel cells operating in low humidification

Effect of Pore Former on Carbon Black–Polytetrafluoroethylene-Based Monolithic Gas Diffusion Media for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

When the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is used as a power source device to operate in a low temperature environment, the cell will have a series of problems such as difficulty in starting due to the overall low temperature, reduced output performance, and reduced life. External heating agent heating is one of the important methods to solve the above problems. In this paper, based on the most commonly used rectangular DC channel fuel cell model, a numerical simulation method is used to analyze the effect of different temperature heating agents on the continuous output performance of the cell at an ambient temperature of 253.15 K. By analyzing the cell polarization curve, temperature, material distribution, and current density under four operating conditions, it was found that the addition of an external heating agent helps to improve the output performance of the cell in a low-temperature environment. Among them, the optimization effect is most obvious when the temperature of the heating agent is 313.15 K in the studied temperature range.

Numerical simulation study on operation characteristics of PEMFC in low temperature environment

Effects of Gas Diffusion Layer Porosity Distribution on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Membrane electrode assembly performance of a standalone microporous layer on a metallic gas diffusion layer

In this work, a novel standalone monolithic diffusion layer (SMDL) was fabricated by a low cost axial compression process, using a die-cast mould at room temperature. The fabricated SMDL consisted of carbon black and PTFE, designed for use in Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). The SMDLs formed were crack free, with a desired thickness of 200 ?m. The SMDL integrated features of micro porous and gas diffusion layers, with tri-modal pore distribution, including macro pores. The SMDLs had sufficient flexibility, compression stability assessed under simulated cell conditions, adequate in-plane conductivity and low contact resistance. The performance of the SMDLs, tested in a single fuel cell, revealed minimal sensitivity to change in humidity under wet and asymmetric flooded conditions. The fabricated SMDLs peak power density value of 0.25 W/cm2 obtained was comparable with that of the standard sample. They were found to be better suited to accommodate spatial as well as temporal variations in humidity experienced in PEMFCs.

Sruthi Kattamanchi

Papers

Effect of Pore Former on Carbon Black–Polytetrafluoroethylene-Based Monolithic Gas Diffusion Media for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A novel die-cast processed standalone monolithic gas diffusion medium for proton exchange membrane fuel cells