Water management and mass transport of a fractal metal foam flow-field based polymer electrolyte fuel cell using operando neutron imaging

• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123204
• Publication Date: 2024-04-13T10:11:25Z
• Authors: Y. Wu; L. Xu; S. Zhou; J. Yang; W. Kockelmann; Y. Han; Q. Li; W. Chen; M.-O. Coppens; P.R. Shearing; D.J.L. Brett; R. Jervis
• Keywords: Neutron Imaging; Water Transport

Metal foam flow-fields (MFFs) exhibit immense potential for enhancing the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) owing to their advantageous pore connectivity and abundant gas pathways. Nevertheless, challenges remain with conventional MFF concerning reactant homogeneity water management. To address these concerns, this study incorporates a fractal manifold into design. By employing operando neutron imaging, device-level testing, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), comprehensive understanding mass transfer management characteristics across is obtained. This novel design delivers better cell lower transport resistance compared under all experimental conditions investigated. Notably, imaging reveals that consistently exhibits reduced liquid content more uniformly distributed MFF. These superior contribute substantial ∼15% increase in maximum power density MFF-based PEFC. The results indicate further improvement by optimizing parameters.