TY - JOUR
T1 - Laser perforated fuel cell diffusion media. Part I
T2 - Related changes in performance and water content
AU - Manahan, M. P.
AU - Hatzell, M. C.
AU - Kumbur, E. C.
AU - Mench, M. M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Prof. A. Turhan at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Drs. D.S. Hussey and D. Jacobson at NIST for their assistance with the neutron testing and data analysis, and Toyota Motor Company for partial support. Prof. M.M. Mench wishes to acknowledge the support for the work from NSF CAREER Award CBET #0644811, and Mr. M. Manahan would like to thank the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program for partial financial support on this project. The authors would also like to thank Mr. F.E. Hizir for performing perforations and SEM/EDS analysis, valuable discussions on the selection of perforation geometry, and analysis of a portion of the results.
Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/7/1
Y1 - 2011/7/1
N2 - In this study, cathode-side, bi-layered diffusion media (DM) samples with micro-porous layer were perforated with 300 μm laser-cut holes (covering 15% of the surface area in a homogenous pattern) using a ytterbium fiber laser to investigate the effect of structural changes on the gas and water transport. Under reduced humidity conditions (50% inlet relative humidity on the anode and cathode), the perforated DM were observed to increase the potential by an average of 6% for current densities ranging from 0.2 to 1.4 A cm-2. However, the perforated DM showed reduced performance for current densities greater than 1.4 A cm-2 and at all currents under high-humidity conditions. Neutron radiography experiments were also performed to understand the changes in liquid water retention characteristics of DM due to the laser perforations. Significant water accumulation and water redistribution were observed in the perforated DM, which helps explain the observed performance behavior. The results indicate that the perforations act as water pooling and possible channeling locations, which significantly alter the water condensation, storage, and transport scheme within the fuel cell. These observations suggest that proper tailoring of fuel cell DM possesses significant potential to enable fuel cell operations with reduce liquid overhead and high performance.
AB - In this study, cathode-side, bi-layered diffusion media (DM) samples with micro-porous layer were perforated with 300 μm laser-cut holes (covering 15% of the surface area in a homogenous pattern) using a ytterbium fiber laser to investigate the effect of structural changes on the gas and water transport. Under reduced humidity conditions (50% inlet relative humidity on the anode and cathode), the perforated DM were observed to increase the potential by an average of 6% for current densities ranging from 0.2 to 1.4 A cm-2. However, the perforated DM showed reduced performance for current densities greater than 1.4 A cm-2 and at all currents under high-humidity conditions. Neutron radiography experiments were also performed to understand the changes in liquid water retention characteristics of DM due to the laser perforations. Significant water accumulation and water redistribution were observed in the perforated DM, which helps explain the observed performance behavior. The results indicate that the perforations act as water pooling and possible channeling locations, which significantly alter the water condensation, storage, and transport scheme within the fuel cell. These observations suggest that proper tailoring of fuel cell DM possesses significant potential to enable fuel cell operations with reduce liquid overhead and high performance.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79955474237
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79955474237#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.01.014
DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.01.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79955474237
SN - 0378-7753
VL - 196
SP - 5573
EP - 5582
JO - Journal of Power Sources
JF - Journal of Power Sources
IS - 13
ER -
