A review on modeling of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Abstract

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. Among various fuel cells proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is considered one of the most promising candidates for the next generation power sources because of its high-power densities, zero-emission, and low operation temperature. In recent years, modeling has received enormous attention and interest in understanding and studying the PEMFC phenomena. This article reviews recent progress in PEMFC modeling. Empirical/semi-empirical, analytical, and mechanistic models, zero-to-three dimensional models, and multiphase flow models, such as multiphase mixture, multi-fluid, and VOF models, are different types of PEMFC modeling approaches, respectively, in terms of parametric, dimensional and two or three-phase flow. The present study enlightens the importance of combining different modeling strategies and parameter identification in PEMFC modeling to achieve precise models to reduce the time and cost of experiments.