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Investigation of Gas Diffusion Layers for Flexible Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

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Abstract

In this study, we report the investigation of the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) in flexible polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and measure the cell assembly pressure via force sensitive resistor (FSR). We confirmed the performance of the flexible PEMFCs using carbon cloth (pristine CC), carbon paper (CP), and carbon cloth with MPL (MPL CC) as GDLs. The performance of flexible PEMFCs in the flat position with pristine CC, CP, and MPL CC are 54.2, 24.2, and 22.8 mW/cm2, respectively. On the other hand, that of flexible PEMFCs in the bent position is 94.5, 52.9, and 46.0 mW/cm2, respectively. The cell assembly pressure depending on GDLs, is confirmed via FSR measurements. The cell assembly pressure based on curvatures is higher in the order of CP, MPL CC, and pristine CC. We investigated the application of GDLs because optimization is complicated based on the bending characteristics in flexible PEMFCs. This study can be helpful for the selection of GDLs in flexible PEMFCs.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the financial support from an NRF grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2020R1C1C1009191).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Soongsil University, Donjak-gu, Seoul, 06978, Republic of Korea

    Yoonho So, Hongnyoung Yoo, Jaeyeon Kim, Obeen Kwon, Seokhun Jeong, Heesoo Choi, Hyeonjin Cha & Taehyun Park

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  1. Yoonho So
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  2. Hongnyoung Yoo
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Correspondence to Taehyun Park.

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So, Y., Yoo, H., Kim, J. et al. Investigation of Gas Diffusion Layers for Flexible Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 10, 1007–1014 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-023-00502-x

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