Abstract
Liquid water in the gas channels is known to have a significant impact on cell performance. In this study, the role of the surface properties of the GDL and separator on the liquid water transport were investigated through combined experimental and numerical analyses. Hydrophilic separator showed better cell performance than hydrophobic separator under high current density condition when hydrophobic GDL was used. Due to the different capillary pressure between separator and GDL, the liquid water in the gas channel easily spread along the wall of the hydrophilic separator, while it became large on the surface of the GDL in case of hydrophobic separator. These results suggested that the difference of the liquid water behavior in the gas channel caused the cell voltage loss under high current density conditions since oxygen transport was hindered because of the reduced surface area of the GDL coverd with liquid water.
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