Liquid water transport in a mixed-wet gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell

被引：123

作者：

Sinha, Puneet K.

Wang, Chao-Yang ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Penn State Univ, Electrochem Engine Ctr ECEC, University Pk, PA 16802 USA

来源：

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE | 2008年 / 63卷 / 04期

关键词：

polymer electrolyte fuel cell; mixed wettability; gas diffusion layer; liquid water transport; pore-network modeling;

D O I：

10.1016/j.ces.2007.11.007

中图分类号：

TQ [化学工业];

学科分类号：

0817 ;

摘要：

After PTFE treatment, a gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) features mixed wettability, which substantially impacts liquid water transport and associated mass transport losses. A pore-network model is developed in this work to delineate the effect of GDL wettability distribution on pore-scale liquid water transport in a GDL under fuel cell operating conditions. It is found that in a mixedwet GDL liquid water preferentially flows through connected GDL hydrophilic network, and thereby suppresses the finger-like morphology observed in a wholly hydrophobic GDL. The effect of GDL hydrophilic fraction distribution is investigated, and the existence of an optimum hydrophilic fraction that leads to the least mass transport losses is established. The need for controlled PTFE treatment is stressed, and a wettability-tailored GDL is proposed. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

引用

页码：1081 / 1091

页数：11

共 31 条

[1] Secondary imbibition in NAPL-invaded mixed-wet sediments [J].