Mesoscopic modeling of liquid water transport in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

A key performance limitation in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC), manifested in terms of mass transport loss, originates from liquid water transport and resulting flooding phenomena in the constituent components. Liquid water leads to the coverage of the electrochemically active sites in the catalyst layer (CL) rendering reduced catalytic activity and blockage of the available pore space in the porous CL and fibrous gas diffusion layer (GDL) resulting in hindered oxygen transport to the active reaction sites. The cathode CL and the GDL therefore play a major role in the mass transport loss and hence in the water management of a PEFC In this article, we present the development of a mesoscopic modeling formalism coupled with realistic microstructural delineation to study the profound influence of the pore structure and surface wettability on liquid water transport and interfacial dynamics in the PEFC catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer.