Journal article
Effects of Surface Irregularities and Interfacial Cracks on Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Performance
ECS transactions, v 25(1), pp 1745-1754
25 Sep 2009
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The present study seeks to investigate the impact of surface irregularities and cracks at the catalyst layer (CL) and micro-porous layer (MPL) interface on the mass and electronic transport of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Two different CLs were compared, i.e. one with negligible cracking and the other with high cracking (~6% active area reduction), under a combination of various operating conditions, including high/low relative humidity, and the presence of nitrogen/helium inert gases in the cathode inlet stream. A limiting current density analysis indicated that the cracked CL demonstrated a small increase in the Fickian diffusion of the reactants across the cathode electrode compared to the negligible-cracked CL case. Furthermore, the results from a relative humidity analysis showed that the protonic resistance in the CL might dominate the moderate current density region (0.15 A/cm2<current density<0.45 A/cm2). Finally, comparison of the cell performance for cracked and negligible-cracked CL cases suggests that the cracks may act as water pooling sites, which in turn, may enhance the performance in the high current density region (current density>0.45 A/cm2) due to the decreased water surface coverage and/or enhanced water removal.
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Details
- Title
- Effects of Surface Irregularities and Interfacial Cracks on Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Performance
- Creators
- Michael P. Manahan - Pennsylvania State UniversitySoowhan Kim - Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryEmin C. Kumbur - Drexel UniversityMatthew M. Mench - Pennsylvania State UniversitySeung-Lae Kim - Decision Sciences (and Management Information Systems)
- Publication Details
- ECS transactions, v 25(1), pp 1745-1754
- Publisher
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Decision Sciences (and Management Information Systems); Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000329585500177
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-75749113793
- Other Identifier
- 9781607680888; 1607680882; 991019173417204721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Electrochemistry
- Energy & Fuels