Abstract
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been utilized as a promising power source for new energy vehicles. Their performances are greatly affected by the structural design of the flow field in the bipolar plate. In this paper, we present a novel three-dimensional (3D) bionic cathode flow field, inspired by the small intestinal villi. The structural design and working principle of the 3D bionic flow field units are first described. A 3D numerical model is developed to study the mass transfer and distribution of the reactants and products, as well as the polarization performances of the PEMFC with the 3D bionic cathode flow field. The simulation results indicate that the proposed 3D bionic flow field can significantly improve the reaction gas supply from the flow field to porous electrodes, and thus would be beneficial for the removal of liquid water in the cathode. The mass transfer of gas in the PEMFC can be enhanced due to the increasing contact areas between the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the cathode flow field, and the distribution of currents in the membrane would be more uniform. The obtained results demonstrated the feasibility of using the 3D bionic flow field for the development of highly efficient PEMFCs with high power density.
Highlights
We developed a novel 3D bionic flow field inspired by mimicking the structures of
We developed a novel 3D bionic flow field inspired by mimicking the structures of small intestinal villi for Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)
A numerical computation model was established to the performance of the proposed 3D bionic flow field
Summary
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been regarded as a considerable candidate for the generation of green power source, due to the advantages of low pollution, low noise, and high energy conversion efficiency [1]. PEMFCs have made great progress, their performances still need to be improved. Optimized mass transfer and water management are urgently required for the development of highly efficient PEMFCs. Since the bipolar plate of the PEMFCs plays the essential role of air supply, water removal, and current conduction, optimizing the structural design of the flow field can improve the PEMFC’s performance and durability [2]. The flow field design has a crucial influence on the mass transfer in the PEMFC, especially at high current conditions [3]
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