Effect of gas diffusion layer compression on PEM fuel cell performance

被引:280
作者
Ge, Jiabin [1 ]
Higier, Andrew [1 ]
Liu, Hongtan [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Miami, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
关键词
PEM fuel cell; gas diffusion layer; GDL compression;
D O I
10.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.11.069
中图分类号
O64 [物理化学(理论化学)、化学物理学];
学科分类号
070304 ; 081704 ;
摘要
The gas diffusion layer (GDL) plays a very important role in the performance of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The amount of compression on the GDL affects the contact resistance, the GDL porosity, and the fraction of the pores occupied by liquid water, which, in turn, affect the performance of a PEM fuel cell. In order to study the effects of GDL compression on fuel cell performance a unique fuel cell test fixture was designed and created such that, without disassembling the fuel cell, varying the compression of the GDL can be achieved both precisely and uniformly. Besides, the compression can be precisely measured and easily read out. Using this special fuel cell fixture, the effects of GDL compression on PEM fuel cell performance under various anode and cathode flow rates were studied. Two different GDL materials, carbon cloth double-sided ELAT and TORAY (TM) carbon fiber paper were used in these studies. The experimental results show that generally the fuel cell performance decreases with the increase in compression and over-compression probably exists in most fuel cells. In the low current density region, generally there exists an optimal compression ratio. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:922 / 927
页数:6
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