Open AccessDroplet and Percolation Network Interactions in a Fuel Cell Gas Diffusion Layer
Author(s) -
Adrian Mularczyk,
Qingyang Lin,
Martin J. Blunt,
Adrien Lamibrac,
Federica Marone,
Thomas J. Schmidt,
Félix N. Büchi,
Jens Eller
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the electrochemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 271
eISSN - 1945-7111
pISSN - 0013-4651
DOI - 10.1149/1945-7111/ab8c85
Subject(s) - percolation (cognitive psychology) , diffusion , gaseous diffusion , electrolyte , chemistry , porosity , percolation theory , curvature , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , chemical physics , chromatography , thermodynamics , conductivity , electrode , organic chemistry , physics , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , engineering , biology
Product water accumulations in polymer electrolyte fuel cells can cause performance losses and reactant starvation leading to cell degradation. Liquid water removal in the form of droplets, fed by percolation networks in the gas diffusion layer (GDL), is one of the main transport mechanisms by which the water is evacuated from the GDL. In this study, the effect of droplet detachment in the gas channel on the water cluster inside the GDL has been investigated using X-ray tomographic microscopy and X-ray radiography. The droplet growth is captured in varying stages over a sequence of consecutive droplet releases, during which an inflation and deflation of the gas-liquid interface menisci of the percolating water structure in the GDL has been observed and correlated to changes in pressure fluctuations in the water phase via gas-liquid curvature analysis.