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Nonisothermal two-phase modeling of the effect of linear nonuniform catalyst layer on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance

Sabzpoushan, S ; Sharif University of Technology | 2020

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1002/ese3.765
  3. Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd , 2020
  4. Abstract:
  5. In this research, it is investigated to numerically evaluate the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The performance is investigated through the nonuniformity gradient loading at the catalyst layer (CL) of the considered PEMFC. Computational fluid dynamics is used to simulate a 2D domain in which a steady-state laminar compressible flow in two-phase for the PEMFC has been considered. In this case, a particular nonuniform variation inside the CL along the channel is assumed. The nonuniform gradient is created using a nonisothermal domain to predict the flooding effects on the performance of the PEMFC. The computational domain is considered as the cathode of PEMFC, which is divided into three regions: a gas channel, a gas diffusion layer, and a CL. The loading variation inside the catalyst is defined as a constant slope along the channel. In order to find the optimum slope, different slope angles are analyzed. The results point out that the nonuniform loading distribution of the catalyst (platinum) along the channel could improve the fuel cell performance up to 1.6% and 5% for power density and voltage generation, respectively. It is inferred that it is better to use more catalyst in the final section of the channel if the performance is the main concern. © 2020 The Authors. Energy Science & Engineering published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
  6. Keywords:
  7. nonuniform catalyst layer ; polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell ; two-phase flow ; Catalysts ; Computational fluid dynamics ; Diffusion in gases ; Polyelectrolytes ; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) ; Two phase flow ; Computational domains ; Different slopes ; Fuel cell performance ; Gas diffusion layers ; Non-uniform catalysts ; Nonuniform loadings ; Polymer electrolyte membranes ; Voltage generations ; Solid electrolytes
  8. Source: Energy Science and Engineering ; Volume 8, Issue 10 , 2020 , Pages 3575-3587
  9. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ese3.765