Abstract
The nano/micro-scale geometry of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) catalyst layers critically affects cell performance. The small length scales and complex structure of these composite layers make it challenging to analyze cell performance and physics at the particle scale by experiment. Herein, we present a computational method to simulate transport and chemical reaction phenomena at the pore/particle-scale and apply it to a PEFC cathode with platinum group metal free (PGM-free) catalyst. We numerically solve the governing equations for the physics with heterogeneous oxygen diffusion coefficient and proton conductivity evaluated using the actual electrode structure and ionomer distribution obtained using nano-scale resolution X-ray computed tomography (nano-CT). Using this approach, the oxygen concentration and electrolyte potential distributions imposed by the oxygen reduction reaction are solved and the impact of the catalyst layer structure on performance is evaluated.
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