Performance Improvement of WaveLike PEMFC Stack with Compound Membrane Electrode Assembly

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology has drawn considerable attention during past two decades and has potential for automotive applications due to high energy density and low impact on environments [1, 2]. Nevertheless, commercialization of fuel cell vehicles still depends on achieving higher volumetric power density and specific power in order to compete with traditionally used energy conversion devices [3]. Take the commercial 10.5 kW stack from BALLARD for example [4], the volumetric power density is 1,323 W L and specific power is 981 W kg. However, the 2020 technical target of US Department of Energy (DOE) for automotive fuel cell power systems operating on direct hydrogen is that volumetric power density and specific power are 2,500 W L and 2,000 W kg for stack, respectively [5]. Typically, the bipolar plates account for approximately 80% of the stack volume and as much as 70% of the stack weight [6]. Therefore, optimization the stack architecture and usage of novel functional material to replace bipolar plates are two efficient ways to improve the fuel cell power density simultaneously. In our previous work [7], a novel wave-like architecture for PEMFC stack based on undulate membrane electrode assembles (MEAs) and perforated bipolar plates were presented. Different from conventional plate-and-frame architecture, the wave-like architecture increased active area and achieved higher volumetric power density due to undulate MEAs. Moreover, perforated sheet metal was used as bipolar plates so that it could improve specific power. Simple flow field was designed and perforated bipolar plates were fabricated by stamping process. Besides, the MEAs with the pro-