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Local Flooding Phenomena in Channel and Land Areas Occurring during Dynamic Operation of a PEFC
Author(s) -
von Dahlen S.,
Schneider I. A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
fuel cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1615-6854
pISSN - 1615-6846
DOI - 10.1002/fuce.201200030
Subject(s) - polarization (electrochemistry) , voltage , materials science , current (fluid) , electrolyte , current density , environmental science , cathode , neutron imaging , electrode , neutron , chemistry , electrical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
In this work, we report on flooding phenomena occurring during dynamic operation of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The combination of high spatially and temporally resolved neutron radiography and submillimeter resolved current density distribution measurements enables the simultaneous observation of local liquid water content and current density transients in the channel and land areas of a differentially operated PEFC air cathode. The local transients of a triangular voltage sweep and a voltage step are presented here. Both results demonstrate that in the land area the current density is only marginally affected by the local liquid water content. In the voltage sweep experiment, at higher cell polarization a limiting current density is observed in the land area as a result of mass transport limitations due to the high lateral diffusion path length. In the channel area the corresponding transients of the liquid water content and the current density both exhibit a hysteresis. The transients of the voltage step indicate liquid water rearrangement in channel and land areas as a slow process occurring on a time scale of several minutes. Thereby, the local cell performance is primarily affected by the local liquid water content in front of the oxygen electrode.