Effects of gas diffusion layer thickness on PEM fuel cells with composite foam-rib flow fields

Abstract

Gas diffusion layers (GDLs) play a crucial role for the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The utilization of composite foam-rib flow fields (CFRFFs) can alter the reactant gas transfer pattern, hence improving the efficiency of under-rib reactant gas transfer and water drainage. The impact of the cathode and anode GDL thicknesses (hc,GDL and ha,GDL) on the performance of CFRFF design is investigated by three-dimensional multiphase non-isothermal numerical simulation in this study. The results indicate that for the conventional rib flow field (CRFF) design, there is an optimal hc,GDL for optimal cell performance, while for the CFRFF design, as hc,GDL becomes thinner, the cell performance increases, and the trend is dominated by the variation of the oxygen concentration. Under a thin GDL, the rib width of the CRFF design should be as small as possible to minimize concentration polarization loss, while the rib width of the CFRFF design can be slightly larger. Furthermore, by decreasing the thickness of ha,GDL in both the CRFF and CFRFF designs, there is an increase in the dissolved water content in the ionomer of the cathode CL and a subsequent decrease in the Ohmic polarization loss.