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Enhancing Water Management in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Super-hydrophobic Flow Fields on the Cathode side

Enhancing Water Management in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with Super-hydrophobic Flow Fields on the Cathode side

Date22nd Apr 2022

Time11:00 AM

Venue Through Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ouc-iyks-cgj

PAST EVENT

Details

An experimental study is carried out to investigate how the super hydrophobic mixed-flow fields can be used to improve the water management of PEM Fuel cells. The water generated on the cathode side of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) during lower temperature (30 – 70oC) operations slog the flow of oxidant and reduces the rate of electrochemical reaction. To overcome the issues of slogging as well as water balancing in PEMFCs, it is proposed to use the hydrophobic flow fields on the cathode side. Herein, a novel waterborne superhydrophobic material was coated on the flow fields of graphite plates on the cathode side of the cell. The fuel cell is operated with different rates of humidification with different cell operating temperatures, and the performance of the PEMFC has been observed in terms of polarization curve as well as water rejection from both anode and cathode sides. The maximum power density of the PEMFC decreases slightly due to the rise in surface resistance of the superhydrophobic coating on graphite plates; however, its range of operation is increased. When the PEMFC is operated continuously at static current density, the PEMFC with superhydrophobic flow fields works well without purging. When the normal PEM fuel cell was operated at static current density, the voltage fluctuated considerably due to the flooding. The cell has to be purged in order to remove the excess water. The cell voltage of the normal fuel cell is stabilized after a few minutes of the purging but in super-hydrophobic fuel cells, the voltage fluctuated only on a few occasions and there is no need for purging. The water is automatically removed while flooding due to the super-hydrophobic surface. It is observed that around 58.2% of the water removal rate is increased due to the hydrophobic surface coating as compared with the normal cell when the cell is operated at 0.8 W/cm2.

Speakers

Mr. N.Allwyn Blessing Johnson (ME12D023)

Department of Mechanical Engineering