Engineered Gas Diffusion Layers for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

The present study was carried out to determine how perforated metal sheets used as cathode gas diffusion layers affect fuel cell performance at different operating conditions. Analysis indicated that in-plane gas diffusion of these engineered materials had to be taken into account with through-plane gas diffusion in order to achieve enhanced fuel cell performance. Although these structured gas diffusion layers are in an early stage of development they have great potential to reduce cost and they can be tailored to improve the overall performance of the fuel cell under any operating condition. This may allow a reduction in the system requirements for the fuel cell (e.g., lower humidification, lower flow rates, etc.) which would reduce overall parasitic losses. The design and modeling process and predictive capability for these components is also improved due to their simplified nature.