Quantitative analysis and co-optimization of cathode catalyst layer compositions and operating conditions on cost and performance of PEM fuel cell

Abstract

ABSTRACT Increasing the net power density of proton exchange membrane fuel cell without extra cost is beneficial to its commercialization. To this end, a one-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal model was developed in this work. The influences of cathode catalyst layer compositions including the mass ratio of ionomer to carbon (Ri/c) and mass ratio of platinum to carbon (Rpt/c) and operating conditions including temperature, cathode relative humidity (RHc), anode relative humidity (RHa), and operating voltage (V) on the cost and performance of fuel cell were quantitatively investigated by range and variance analyses based on an orthogonal test. The results indicate that Ri/c is the most significant factor affecting net power and unit power price. In addition, the RHc and V are also sensitive parameters to the net power, while Rpt/c affects the unit power price. Finally, with the consideration of the interaction between the operating conditions and the cathode catalyst layer compositions, a multi-objective optimization was conducted to improve the aforementioned two indicators. Compared to the base case, the optimized fuel cell achieves a net power increase of 50.8% and a 24.7% reduction in unit power price, which allows the realization of a high-performance, low-cost fuel cell.