Abstract
The objective of this work is to investigate water transport of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) materials subjected to a temperature gradient. Direct thermo-osmotic experiments on different polymer membrane types (non-reinforced Nafion®, reinforced A, and reinforced B membrane) were performed using an in-house fuel cell fixture with a parallel flow field. Thermo-osmotic flow was observed in all membranes, and the water flow direction (in the membrane only) was determined to always flow from the cold side to the hot side. The water flux was found to be proportional to temperature gradient and increased with average temperature. The dependency of the thermo-osmotic diffusivity on average temperature showed predictable Arrhenius-type behavior. For the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), net flow was determined to be from the hot to cold side due to a phase-change effect, which will be discussed in detail in a later publication. Interface temperatures of membrane were estimated using 2-dimensional thermal model, leading to empirical relations of thermo-osmotic diffusivity across the membrane.
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