Open AccessEnabling High Power Density Fuel Cells by Evaporative Cooling with Advanced Porous Media
Author(s) -
Magali Cochet,
Antoni FornerCuenca,
Victoria Manzi-Orezzoli,
Muriel Siegwart,
Dirk Scheuble,
Pierre Boillat
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/ab8e82
Subject(s) - humidifiers , evaporative cooler , materials science , porous medium , environmental science , process engineering , electrolyte , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , porosity , fuel cells , chemical engineering , nuclear engineering , mechanical engineering , chemistry , environmental engineering , engineering , composite material , electrode
Despite being a promising technology for automotive applications, polymer electrolyte fuel cells still face challenges to reduce their complexity and cost. One challenge is to achieve good humidification, which is essential for a fuel cell membrane, without expensive external humidifiers. Here we present an evaporative cooling concept that manages humidification and cooling simultaneously, and does not require any additional layer to the structure of the cell. To this aim, water flows in the fuel cell itself through a small number of the flowfields’ channels. Modified gas diffusion layers, with separate parallel hydrophilic regions, are capable of wicking the water from these supply channels and bring it in contact to the gas flow to evaporate, thus providing cooling and humidification. Our results show that this concept can provide the necessary cooling power and humidification for a cell with completely dry inlet gases at 80 °C, and has the potential for working at higher temperatures.