Mass Current Density Research Articles

Rapid Preparation of Platinum Catalyst in Low-Temperature Molten Salt Using Microwave Method for Formic Acid Catalytic Oxidation Reaction

In this paper, platinum nanoparticles with a size of less than 50 nm were rapidly and successfully synthesized in low-temperature molten salt using a microwave method. The morphology and structure of the product were characterized by SEM, TEM, EDX, XRD, etc. The TEM and SEM results showed that the prepared product was a nanostructure with concave and uniform size. The EDX result indicated that the product was pure Pt, and the XRD pattern showed that the diffraction peaks of the product were consistent with the standard spectrum of platinum. The obtained Pt/C nanoparticles exhibited remarkable electrochemical performance in a formic acid catalytic oxidation reaction (FAOR), with a peak mass current density of 502.00 mA·mg−1Pt and primarily following the direct catalytic oxidation pathway. In addition, in the chronoamperometry test, after 24 h, the mass-specific activity value of the Pt concave NPs/C catalyst (10.91 mA·mg−1Pt) was approximately 4.5 times that of Pt/C (JM) (2.35 mA·mg−1Pt). The Pt/C NPs exhibited much higher formic acid catalytic activity and stability than commercial Pt/C. The microwave method can be extended to the preparation of platinum-based alloys as well as other catalysts.

Bioinspired Proton Pump on Ferroelectric HfO2-Coupled Ir Catalysts with Bidirectional Hydrogen Spillover for pH-Universal and Superior Hydrogen Production.

The improvement of hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics can be largely accelerated by introducing a well-designed hydrogen spillover pathway into the catalysts. However, the driving force and mechanism of hydrogen migration on the surface of catalysts are poorly understood and are rarely explored in depth. Here, inspired by the specific ferroelectric property of HfO2, Mn-O-Ca sites in Mn4CaO5, and Fe-Fe sites in hydrogenases, we constructed a bioinspired HfO2 coupled with Ir catalysts (Ir/HfO2@C) with an alkaline hydrogen reverse spillover effect from HfO2 to interface and acid hydrogen spillover effect from Ir to interface. Benefiting from the bidirectional hydrogen spillover pathways controlled by pH, Ir/HfO2@C displays a narrow overpotential difference between acidic and alkaline electrolytes. Remarkably, Ir/HfO2@C shows a remarkable mass current density and turnover frequency value, far exceeding the benchmark Ir/C by 20.6 times. More importantly, this Ir/HfO2@C achieves extraordinarily low overpotentials of 146 and 39 mV at 10 mV cm-2 in seawater and alkaline seawater, respectively. The anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzer equipped with Ir/HfO2@C as a cathode exhibits excellent and stable H2-evolution performance on 2.22 V at 1.0 A cm-2. We expect that the bioinspired strategy will provide a new concept for designing catalytic materials for efficient and pH-universal electrochemical hydrogen production.

Enhancing the Catalytic Activity of Pd Nanocatalysts for Anion Exchange Membrane Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells by Functionalizing Vulcan XC-72 with Cu Organometallic Compounds.

The most widely used support in low-temperature fuel cell applications is the commercially available Vulcan XC-72. Herein, we report its functionalization with the home-obtained mesityl copper (Cu-mes) and Cu coordinate (Cu(dmpz)L2) organometallic compounds. Pd nanoparticles are anchored on the supports obtaining Pd/CCu-mes, Pd/CCu(dmpz)L2, and Pd/C (on nonfunctionalized support). The polarization curves of the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) show that Pd/CCu-mes and Pd/CCu(dmpz)L2 promote the reaction at a more negative onset potential, i.e., E onset = 0.38 V/reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), compared to 0.41 V/RHE of Pd/C. The mass current density (j m) delivered by Pd/CCu-mes is considerably higher (1231.3 mA mgPd -1), followed by Pd/CCu(dmpz)L2 (1001.8 mA mgPd -1), and Pd/C (808.3 mA mgPd -1). The enhanced performance of Pd/CCu-mes and Pd/CCu(dmpz)L2 for the EOR (and tolerance to CO poisoning) is attributed to a shift of their d-band center toward more negative values, compared to Pd/C, because of the formation of PdCu alloyed phases arising from the functionalization. In addition, laboratory-scale tests of the anion exchange membrane-direct ethanol fuel cell assembled with Pd/CCu-mes show the highest open circuit voltage (OCV = 0.60 V) and cell power density (P cell = 0.14 mW cm-2). As a result of its high catalytic activity, Pd/CCu-mes can find application as an anode nanocatalyst in AEM-DEFCs.

Design of Manganese‐Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles as Effective Electrocatalytic System in Oxygen Reduction Reactions

ABSTRACTFuel cell technologies constitute a clean, reliable, highly efficient, and eco‐friendly source of alternative energy generation. However, they still require a reliable and robust catalytic system showing comparative electrochemical activity to precious metal Pt with less cost. In this work, Mn@ZnO NPs were synthesized using a hydrothermal‐assisted simple method. Several techniques including SEM, TGA, and XRD were used to confirm the material synthesis. Electrochemical properties were analyzed by using linear sweep voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and cyclic voltammetry. A higher ORR activity in terms of mass activity and current density was observed 133.9 mA/mg as compared to Pt/C (96 mA/mg) and Pd/C (67 mA/mg) under otherwise identical conditions. Mn@ZnO also exhibited excellent current density (1.913 mA cm−2), comparable to Pt/C (1.55 mA cm−2). Chronoamperometry shows stability for up to 800 s. Comparative studies were conducted in both acidic and basic mediums, with observed higher ORR activity in acidic media.

Experimental comparative analysis of an air-breath direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) using serpentine and spiral flow fields

In the present study, an experimental comparative analysis of Air Breathe Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC) was conducted using two different flow field patterns, namely spiral and serpentine. The impact of flow field plates on cell performance, CO2 gas bubble behavior and pressure drop was examined at various mass flow rates and current densities. The experiments were conducted with the same hydraulic diameter and channel length for both flow field patterns, varying mass flow rates from 0.25 to 4 ml/min, and exploring reactant concentrations ranging from 0.25 M to 4 M. From the results it is observed that, for both the flow field patterns, pressure drop increases and CO2 bubble formation decreases with increase in mass flow rate. It is also observed that, under identical operating conditions, the serpentine flow field exhibits higher values for both pressure drop and peak power density compared to the spiral flow configuration. The study reveals that, the serpentine flow appears more efficient in terms of peak power density, while the spiral flow outperforms in terms of minimizing pressure drop under the specified operating condition.

Porous hemispherical Au@PdAg catalysts for enhancing ethanol electrooxidation

Direct ethanol fuel cell can convert chemical energy into electric energy directly, and has the advantages of being free from Carnot cycle and being friendly to environment, so it has a broad application prospect. However, the insufficient activity and toxicity resistance of anodic catalysts limit their commercial application, mainly due to the limited adsorption sites and the toxic inactivation of catalysts resulting from the production of toxic intermediates (COads) during the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) process. In this study, the Au@PdAg porous hemispherical catalyst assembled by nanotubes was successfully prepared by soft template method and co-reduction method using dioctadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DODAC) as surfactant, and its EOR performance was tested. Au@Pd1.0Ag1.0 has the highest mass current density with a peak value of 4048.8 mAmgPd−1, which is 7.8 times of Pd/C (JM). After 5000 s stability test, the residual current density value is still 863.4 mAmgPd−1. The results showed that the introduction of the oxygenophilic metal Ag was conducive to the formation of OHads and the oxidation of COads. The porous structure of the nanotube assembly facilitates electron transfer and provides more adsorption sites, which makes the catalyst show good electrocatalytic activity and anti-CO poisoning ability.

Efficient and selective glycerol electrolysis for the co-production of lactic acid and hydrogen with multi-component Pt/C-zeolite catalyst

Among various electrochemical reactions to produce fuels and chemicals, glycerol electrolysis to co-produce hydrogen and lactic acid has received great attention. However, studies have shown the benchmark Pt based catalysts are insufficient in selectively catalysing the glycerol to lactic acid transformation, resulting in a low yield of lactic acid. Here we report a study on glycerol electrolysis with anion-exchange membrane electrode assembly electrolyser. The reaction conditions including mass transport, temperature, current density and KOH concentration were optimised, among which temperature played a significant role in facilitating the reaction rate and thermodynamics. With the optimised condition a multicomponent Pt/C-zeolite electrocatalyst system (Pt/C-CBV600) was developed and tested, which is capable to increase the lactic acid selectivity to 57.3% from the 33.8% with standalone Pt/C. Although the detailed mechanism required further investigation, it is hypothesised that the CBV600 zeolite with abundant Lewis acid surface sites can effectively bind the dihydroxyacetone intermediate, and drive the reaction towards pyruvaldehyde heterogeneously, the key step to form lactic acid.

Co−Co Dinuclear Active Sites Dispersed on Zirconium‐doped Heterostructured Co9S8/Co3O4 for High‐current‐density and Durable Acidic Oxygen Evolution

AbstractDeveloping cost‐effective and sustainable acidic water oxidation catalysts requires significant advances in material design and in‐depth mechanism understanding for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, we developed a single atom regulatory strategy to construct Co−Co dinuclear active sites (DASs) catalysts that atomically dispersed zirconium doped Co9S8/Co3O4 heterostructure. The X‐ray absorption fine structure elucidated the incorporation of Zr greatly facilitated the generation of Co−Co DASs layer with stretching of cobalt oxygen bond and S−Co−O heterogeneous grain boundaries interfaces, engineering attractive activity of significantly reduced overpotential of 75 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a breakthrough of 500 mA cm−2 high current density, and water splitting stability of 500 hours in acid, making it one of the best‐performing acid‐stable OER non‐noble metal materials. The optimized catalyst with interatomic Co−Co distance (ca. 2.80 Å) followed oxo‐oxo coupling mechanism that involved obvious oxygen bridges on dinuclear Co sites (1,090 cm−1), confirmed by in situ SR‐FTIR, XAFS and theoretical simulations. Furthermore, a major breakthrough of 120,000 mA g−1 high mass current density using the first reported noble metal‐free cobalt anode catalyst of Co−Co DASs/ZCC in PEM‐WE at 2.14 V was recorded.

Co-Co Dinuclear Active Sites Dispersed on Zirconium-doped Heterostructured Co9 S8 /Co3 O4 for High-current-density and Durable Acidic Oxygen Evolution.

Developing cost-effective and sustainable acidic water oxidation catalysts requires significant advances in material design and in-depth mechanism understanding for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, we developed a single atom regulatory strategy to construct Co-Co dinuclear active sites (DASs) catalysts that atomically dispersed zirconium doped Co9 S8 /Co3 O4 heterostructure. The X-ray absorption fine structure elucidated the incorporation of Zr greatly facilitated the generation of Co-Co DASs layer with stretching of cobalt oxygen bond and S-Co-O heterogeneous grain boundaries interfaces, engineering attractive activity of significantly reduced overpotential of 75 mV at 10 mA cm-2 , a breakthrough of 500 mA cm-2 high current density, and water splitting stability of 500 hours in acid, making it one of the best-performing acid-stable OER non-noble metal materials. The optimized catalyst with interatomic Co-Co distance (ca. 2.80 Å) followed oxo-oxo coupling mechanism that involved obvious oxygen bridges on dinuclear Co sites (1,090 cm-1 ), confirmed by in situ SR-FTIR, XAFS and theoretical simulations. Furthermore, a major breakthrough of 120,000 mA g-1 high mass current density using the first reported noble metal-free cobalt anode catalyst of Co-Co DASs/ZCC in PEM-WE at 2.14 V was recorded.

Enhancing the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of commercially pure titanium using tungsten carbide composites fabricated via additive manufacturing

Commercially pure Ti (CP Ti) exhibits an exceptional corrosion resistance, and it is thus critical in the aerospace, marine, and petrochemical fields. However, pure Ti also displays a modest strength and limited wear resistance. Therefore, several studies have explored the incorporation of reinforcing phases, such as ceramics and carbides, leading to the development of metal matrix composites. This study investigates the fabrication of CP Ti-WC composites using an additive manufacturing process and explores the effect of the WC content on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance. Regarding the mechanical properties, the tensile strength and hardness progressively increase with increasing WC content owing to microstructural refinement and solid solution strengthening caused by W. The alloy containing 5 wt% WC displays the respective maximum strength and hardness of 1042 MPa and 362.2 HV. Furthermore, WC addition enhances the corrosion resistance of CP Ti in a 70 % H2SO4 solution. Compared to those of the other samples, the alloy with 5 wt% WC exhibits the lowest mass loss (0.00242 mg/cm2) and current density in the passivation region, which are attributed to the microstructural refinement aiding in the formation of a stable oxide layer. Thus, this research highlights the potential of CP Ti-WC composites, which exhibit improved mechanical performances and corrosion resistances for use in demanding applications, with insights into microstructural control and property enhancement.

Artificial neural network-enabled approaches toward mass balancing and cell optimization of lithium dual ion batteries

Dual ion batteries (DIBs) are gaining prominence as alternate energy storage devices in recent years due to their high operating potential and low cost. For an all-carbon based DIB, owing to the low cathode capacity, the anode:cathode mass ratio has a much more significant effect on the overall cell performance. Achieving a generalized model towards optimization of active mass balancing in these devices still remains a challenge. With an aim to accelerate the development of dual ion batteries, herein, we attempt to make an experimental data-driven deep neural network model towards mass balancing and cell optimization of a graphite-graphite lithium dual ion battery. We designed appropriate experimental conditions with maximum ranges of control variables and performed detailed electrochemical studies. The data generated through such a minimum number of experiments are used to predict the performance characteristics of the graphite/graphite-based lithium dual ion full cell under a wide range of active electrode mass ratios and current densities, through a machine learning approach. We demonstrate that our model can predict the charge-discharge profiles of the full cell at any given current density in the range 50 mA g−1 and 1 A g−1. Further, using these charge-discharge profiles, we find the discharge capacities of the cell for varying mass ratios and different mass loading. Though we address here the case of graphite/graphite lithium dual ion battery cells, the approach can easily be extended to other battery chemistries to achieve accelerated development of advanced energy storage devices.

Highly active and durable PdFe/Cu nanocatalysts prepared by liquid phase synthesis for ethanol electrooxidation reaction

In the face of environmental pollution and an energy shortage, how to reduce the cost of a noble metal catalyst in clean energy such as the fuel cell system and improve its electrocatalytic performance is one of the hot issues in this field. Here, a facile stepwise co-reduction route for synthesizing a series of PdFe/Cu catalysts with surface reconstruction is investigated and the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) performance is explored. The greater exposure of Pd active sites makes it excellent in EOR in alkaline media compared to the homemade and commercial Pd black catalyst. The mass activity of PdFe/Cu (794.97 mA mg−1Pd) is 2.52 times that of the Pd black catalyst (315.64 mA mg−1Pd). This kind of PdFe/Cu catalyst shows enhanced mass current density (255.66 mA mg−1Pd) after the 1800 s chronoamperometry test and only exhibits a decay of 1.4% after accelerated 500-cycle measurement. The enhanced EOR performance may be due to the change in the electronic structure of Pd caused by synergistic and strain effects among Pd, Fe, and Cu. This work provides an effective and kindly strategy to synthesize electrocatalysts with superior activity and durability in relation to EOR.

Modulating the synergy of Pd@Pt core–shell nanodendrites for boosting methanol electrooxidation kinetics

The single-pot production of Pd@Pt core–shell structures is a promising approach as it offers large surface area, catalytic capability, and stability. In this work, we established a single-pot process to produce Pd@Pt core–shell nanodendrites with tunable composition, shape and size for optimal electrochemical activity. Pd@Pt nanodendrites with diverse compositions were synthesized by tuning the ratios of Pd and Pt sources in an aqueous environment using cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, which functioned as both the surfactant and the reducing agent at an elevated temperature (90 °C). The synthesized Pd5@Pt5 nanodendrites showed exceptional electrochemical action toward the methanol oxidation reaction related with another compositional Pd@Pt nanodendrites and conventional Pt/C electrocatalysts. In addition, Pd5@Pt5 nanodendrites exhibited good CO tolerance owing to their surface features and the synergistic effect among Pt and Pd. Meanwhile, nanodendrites with a Pt-rich surface provided exceptional catalytic active sites. Compared with the conventional Pt/C electrocatalyst, the anodic peak current obtained by Pd5@Pt5 nanodendrites was 3.74 and 2.18 times higher in relations of mass and electrochemical active surface area-normalized current density, respectively. This approach offers an attractive strategy to design electrocatalysts with unique structures and outstanding catalytic performance and stability for electrochemical energy conversion.

Synthesis of Co9S8@CNT hydrogen production composites by one-step pyrolysis of monomolecule precursor

Co9S8 is a highly promising electrochemically active material for energy devices; its rational design and manufacture for further enhancing the electrochemical activity and durability are still challenging. Herein, Co9S8@CNT compounds are synthesized by one-step pyrolysis, which self-assembled the monomolecular precursor and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The CNTs effectively improve the electrical conductivity of the materials and availability of the catalytically active sites, which means that the electrochemical ability of Co9S8@CNT is better than that of individual Co9S8 and CNTs. The onset potential of Co9S8@CNT is 132 mV, which has greatly decreased. At the mass current density of 10 mA mg−1, the overpotential is 337 mV, and the Tafel slope is 49.8 mV dec−1. The addition of CNTs makes up for the deficiency of low electrical conductivity of the CoSx. Furthermore, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the composite improves its electrocatalytically active surface area, and the electrocatalytic ability has been improved efficiently, owing to the increased number of catalytic sites on the surface.

Vesicular AuPd alloy nanowires for enhanced electrocatalytic activity

Developing excellent fuel cells requires complex design and precise tuning of catalyst structure and composition. This paper presents a simple approach to fabricate AuPd vesicular nanowires (VNWs) with controlled composition. The method uses homogeneous Te nanowires (NWs) as templates and reducing agents in the replacement reaction and NaClO as etching agent. Bimetallic synergism and rich catalytic sites in the vesicular nanowires give AuPd catalysts the excellent electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation. In particular, the Au28Pd71 VNWs showed the highest electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation, and its highest mass current density was1.278 A mg−1, which was 1.22 and 1.65 times that of Pt VNWs and commercial Pt/C, separately. Furthermore, Au28Pd71 VNWs exhibited good stability after 2000 cycles, maintaining an initial mass current density of 85.2%. As the optimal component ratio, Au28Pd71 exhibited superior electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation. This discovery demonstrated a new approach for the programming and fabrication of senior methanol fuel cells electrocatalysts.

Phosphorous incorporation into palladium tin nanoparticles for the electrocatalytic formate oxidation reaction

The deployment of direct formate fuel cells (DFFCs) relies on the development of active and stable catalysts for the formate oxidation reaction (FOR). Palladium, providing effective full oxidation of formate to CO2, has been widely used as FOR catalyst, but it suffers from low stability, moderate activity, and high cost. Herein, we detail a colloidal synthesis route for the incorporation of P on Pd2Sn nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are dispersed on carbon black and the obtained composite is used as electrocatalytic material for the FOR. The Pd2Sn0.8P-based electrodes present outstanding catalytic activities with record mass current densities up to 10.0 A mgPd-1, well above those of Pd1.6Sn/C reference electrode. These high current densities are further enhanced by increasing the temperature from 25 °C to 40 °C. The Pd2Sn0.8P electrode also allows for slowing down the rapid current decay that generally happens during operation and can be rapidly re-activated through potential cycling. The excellent catalytic performance obtained is rationalized using density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Electrical/flow heterogeneity of gas diffusion layer and inlet humidity induced performance variation in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

A three-dimensional single-flow channel computational model is used to investigate the performance characteristics of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC). The combined influence of non-uniform interfacial contact resistance (ICR) and inlet relative humidity (RH), along with the heterogeneous flow properties of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) on the PEFC performance is evaluated. The study considers combinations of full and partial humidification of anode and cathode reactants. Results reveal heterogeneous GDL with non-uniform ICR distribution results in a slight ∼4.4% reduction in current density at 0.3V compared to the homogeneous case. However, under same electrical/flow heterogeneities, the current density is observed to increase by ∼19% to ∼1.3A/cm2 under fully humidified anode and partially humidified cathode (i.e., RHa|RHc = 100%|60%) as compared to ∼1.1A/cm2 under symmetric RHa|RHc = 100%|100%. Interesting observations are made on the temperature distribution and cathodic water fractions. The variation in anodic inlet humidity is observed to have no impact on temperature distribution in the membrane, whereas variation in cathodic inlet humidity is effective in reducing the temperature in the channel regime with a 4K (kelvin) difference among all the cases. It is noted here that the overpotential map is not an indicator for performance loss, at least at full inlet humidity. This parameter is observed to depend on water concentration in the cathode. The study provides a detailed analysis of the distribution of reactant mass fraction, water concentration, current density, temperature, cathodic overpotential, and cell performance for all the simulated cases.

Platinum nanoparticles deposited on Cu-doped NiO/C hybrid supports as high-performance catalysts for ethanol and glycerol electrooxidation in alkaline medium

In this work, the influence of Cu-doping on the ability of NiO co-catalyst to enhance the electrocatalytic properties of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles toward ethanol and glycerol oxidation was investigated. The Cu-doped NiO particles were synthesized by a precipitation method, while the noble metal nanoparticles were deposited over the hybrid Cu-doped NiO/C supports via a pulsed microwave-assisted polyol method using ethylene glycol as reductant. Pt-NiO and Pt-NiOCuO(x:y)/C catalysts with Ni:Cu atomic ratios of 9:1 (Pt-NiOCuO(9:1)/C), 7:3 (Pt-NiOCuO(7:3)/C) and 5:5 (Pt-NiOCuO(5:5)/C) were obtained. The physicochemical analysis showed that the as-prepared catalysts are composed of nanoparticles of about 3 nm. The potentiostatic experiments exhibited that the Pt-NiOCuO(7:3)/C catalyst is the most active catalyst for ethanol oxidation, while the Pt-NiOCuO(5:5)/C catalyst exhibited the best performance for glycerol oxidation. These catalysts developed mass current densities of almost 12 and 5 times higher than those of bare Pt/C for ethanol and glycerol oxidation reactions, respectively. Moreover, an accelerated multicycling stability test displayed that the as-prepared catalysts retain almost 98% of their initial mass current density.

Interfacial synergies between single-atomic Pt and CoS for enhancing hydrogen evolution reaction catalysis

Despite the significant role of single atoms during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the underlying nature of the synergetic effect between substrates and single atom is still unclear. Herein, through anchoring Pt single atoms on cobalt sulfide support (Pt@CoS), the roles of Pt single atoms and the substrate for alkaline HER catalysis are unfolded. Electrochemical studies demonstrate the remarkable catalytic performance of Pt @CoS catalysts with a 45-fold increase in mass current density compared to the benchmark Pt/C at 100 mV. The DFT calculation unravels that the anchored Pt SAs on CoS enable more unhybridized dz2 orbitals of surrounding cobalt sites through the interfacial synergetic effect, which benefits the water dissociation kinetics. Likewise, the Pt sites can also act as active sites to facilitate the subsequent H2 formation, thus synergistically promoting the alkaline HER catalysis. This work highlights the importance of the synergies effect between single atoms and substrate for rational catalyst design.

Three-dimensional numerical study of a cathode gas diffusion layer with a through/in plane synergetic gradient porosity distribution for PEM fuel cells

This study proposes a through-plane (TP) and in-plane (IP) synergetic (SYN) gradient porosity distribution (GPD) in the cathode gas diffusion layer (CGDL) to enhance the mass transfer and water removal of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The novel SYN-GPD CGDL is comparatively evaluated with TP-GPD, IP-GPD and uniform porosity distribution (UPD) CGDL by implementing a three-dimensional multiphase fuel cell model. The results show that a higher porosity within CGDL near the cathode flow channel (CFC) for TP-GPD CGDL, however, a higher or lower porosity near the cathode outlet for IP-GPD CGDL improves the mass transfer and water removal within fuel cell, which benefitting the uniform distributions of oxygen and current density, and the cell performance. Additionally, as compared with the TP-GPD, IP-GPD and UPD CGDL, the SYN-GPD CGDL has a greater advantage in the enhancement of mass transfer and water removal, consequently resulting in much more homogeneous internal physical quantity profiles and a higher overall cell performance. Ultimately, the optimal SYN-GPD CGDL improves the maximum power density by 6.73%, while reducing the coefficient variations (CVs) of the oxygen mass fraction and current density by approximately 10.24% and 40.69%, respectively, compared with those of the UPD CGDL.