Experimental measurements of effective diffusion coefficient of oxygen–nitrogen mixture in PEM fuel cell diffusion media

Abstract

PEM fuel cells are increasingly designed to operate at high current densities. At these densities, mass transport limitations become very significant, but they are not well understood, with many modeling studies but few experimental observations. The use of accurate transport coefficients to simulate the mass transport at high current densities is crucial. In this study, experimental measurements have been carried out to determine the effective diffusion coefficient in the carbon paper gas diffusion layer that is commonly used in PEM fuel cells. It was found that almost all the existing theoretical models significantly overpredict the effective diffusion coefficient by as much as 4–5 times; thus, underestimating the transport limitations considerably. Further, the effects of temperature, Teflon treatment for hydrophobicity and porosity on the effective diffusion coefficient were investigated. It was found that temperature does not affect the overall diffusibility of the gas. The diffusibility is decreased with the increase of Teflon treatment and decrease in porosity. Further work on better understanding the diffusion process in the gas diffusion layer is under way.