Open AccessEffects of a Microporous Layer on Water Transport Behaviour in PEM Fuel Cell Gas Diffusion Layers
Author(s) -
Fontip Jinuntuya,
Wasan Kamsanam
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/886/1/012043
Subject(s) - microporous material , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , diffusion , chemistry , water transport , gaseous diffusion , chemical engineering , layer (electronics) , membrane , composite material , materials science , chromatography , fuel cells , water flow , thermodynamics , environmental engineering , biochemistry , physics , engineering
This paper studies water transport behaviours in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell gas diffusion layers (GDLs) under the effects of a microporous layer (MPL) and some GDL structure parameters, namely thickness and pore size. Different paper GDL samples with and without MPL treatment were used in this study. The breakthrough pressure of liquid water and the amount of water retention in the GDL were measured. The results indicate that applying MPL on the GDL substrate has a greater impact on water transport behaviours in the GDL than changing the structure parameters of the GDL substrate. Compared to the GDL without MPL, the results show that applying MPL on the GDL surface considerably increases breakthrough pressure up to 4.3 times, while it greatly decreases water retention in the GDL by up to 13.7 times. For the GDL thickness, the results indicate that thicker GDL of the same structure requires up to 60% higher pressure to break through the GDL, while it can retain up to 4.8 times more water in its structure than thinner versions. Besides, the results indicate that twice-larger mean pore size GDL requires about 1.4 times lower breakthrough pressure, while it retains approximately twice more water in the GDL.