While problems related to CO poisoning still exist for the anode, most of the efficiency loss (80%) in a fuel cell arises due to the cathode. Oxygen reduction at the cathode requires the largest amount of the catalyst in PEM fuel cells due to its lower activity. This problem needs to be solved before mass commercialization of fuel cells can be achieved. The specific objective is to synthesize n...

This paper is concerned with the simultaneous flow of liquid water and gaseous reactants in mini-channels of a proton exchange membrane PEM) fuel cell. Envisaging the mini-channels as structured and ordered porous media, we develop a continuum model of two-phase channel ow based on two-phase Darcy’s law and the M2 formalism, which allow estimate of the parameters key to fuel cell operation such...

A simple tanks-in-series model is presented, which allows for the understanding of the basic physics behind complex spatiotemporal behaviors observed in self-humidified polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Our approach is focused on how the intrinsically nonlinear dynamics of water formation couples with water transport, leading to multistability, inhomogeneous steady state current pr...

Flow channel design on bipolar plates has a direct effect on Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance. It has been found out that the flow field design has a deterministic role on the mass transport and water management, and therefore on the achieved power in PEM Fuel cells. This study concentrates on improvements in the fuel cell performance through optimization of channel dimensio...

In situ, line-of-sight measurements of water vapor partial pressure and temperature were performed in a gas channel on the cathode side of an perating PEM fuel cell. Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy was employed for these measurements for which water transitions sensitive o temperature and partial pressure were utilized. The previously demonstrated methodology for water partial press...

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells incorporating microchannels (D<500 μm) can benefit from improved fuel delivery and convective cooling. However, this requires a better understanding of twophase microchannel transport phenomena, particularly liquid-gas interactions and liquid clogging in cathode air-delivery channels. This paper develops optical fluorescence imaging of water films i...