Pore network modeling to explore the effects of compression on multiphase transport in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layers
- Understanding how compression affects the distribution of liquid water and gaseous oxygen in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layer (GDL) is vital for informing the design of improved porous materials for effective water management strategies. Pore networks extracted from synchrotron-based micro-computed tomography images of compressed GDLs were employed to simulate liquid water transport in GDL materials over a range of compression pressures. The oxygen transport resistance was predicted for each sample under dry and partially saturated conditions. A favorable GDL compression value for a preferred liquid water distribution and oxygen diffusion was found for Toray TGP-H-090 (10%), yet an optimum compression value was not recognized for SGL Sigracet 25BC. SGL Sigracet 25BC exhibited lower transport resistance values compared to Toray TGP-H-090, and this is attributed to the additional diffusion pathways provided by the microporous layer (MPL), an effect that is particularly significant under partially saturatedUnderstanding how compression affects the distribution of liquid water and gaseous oxygen in the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell gas diffusion layer (GDL) is vital for informing the design of improved porous materials for effective water management strategies. Pore networks extracted from synchrotron-based micro-computed tomography images of compressed GDLs were employed to simulate liquid water transport in GDL materials over a range of compression pressures. The oxygen transport resistance was predicted for each sample under dry and partially saturated conditions. A favorable GDL compression value for a preferred liquid water distribution and oxygen diffusion was found for Toray TGP-H-090 (10%), yet an optimum compression value was not recognized for SGL Sigracet 25BC. SGL Sigracet 25BC exhibited lower transport resistance values compared to Toray TGP-H-090, and this is attributed to the additional diffusion pathways provided by the microporous layer (MPL), an effect that is particularly significant under partially saturated conditions. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.…
| Author details: | Mohammadreza Fazeli, James Hinebaugh, Zachary Fishman, Christian TötzkeORCiDGND, Werner Lehnert, Ingo MankeORCiD, Aimy Bazylak |
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| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.10.039 |
| ISSN: | 0378-7753 |
| ISSN: | 1873-2755 |
| Title of parent work (English): | Journal of power sources : the international journal on the science and technology of electrochemical energy systems |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Place of publishing: | Amsterdam |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Year of first publication: | 2016 |
| Publication year: | 2016 |
| Release date: | 2020/03/22 |
| Tag: | Compression; Computed tomography; Gas diffusion layer; Liquid water distribution; Pore network modeling; Synchrotron X-ray |
| Volume: | 335 |
| Number of pages: | 10 |
| First page: | 162 |
| Last Page: | 171 |
| Funding institution: | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); NSERC Discovery Accelerator Program; NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program in Distributed Generation for Remote Communities; NSERC Canada Research Chairs Program; Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI); Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award |
| Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
| Institution name at the time of the publication: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften |
