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Thermal Conductivity of Gas Diffusion Layers of PEM Fuel Cells: Anisotropy and Effects of Structures

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Abstract

When addressing the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, effective water management is essential for the system to respond promptly to electric power demands. The local water vapor saturation pressure and interphase mass transfer are impacted by the temperature distribution inside the structure whereas the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is crucial in facilitating effective heat transfer during cell operation. This work is focused on obtaining a better understanding of the thermal conductivity (k) of the gas diffusion layer in two arrangements, single uncoated macro-porous layer GDL without polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and as a coated double-layer consisting of GDL with 50 % PTFE and a micro-porous layer (MPL). The \(k\) in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions of the double-layer GDL improved by 50 % and 184 % in vacuum, respectively, compared with the case where it is uncoated and unsupported by MPL. Also, this study represents one of the first to investigate the k of double-layer GDL in the in-plane direction. Our out-of-plane k measurement in air and vacuum provides deep insight into the heat transfer mechanism of the porous GDL: the sample and pores inside it follow more parallel configurations than serial for the uncoated macro-porous layer sample, while quite serial configurations for the double-layer GDL sample.

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Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2019YFE0119900 for H. L), US National Science Foundation (CMMI2032464 for X. W.), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52106220 for S. X.), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (RCBS20210706092255073 for M. H), and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020ME183 for H. L.).

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Author notes

  1. Qusai Alahmad and Mahya Rahbar are equal contribution authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, 271 Applied Science Complex II, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Qusai Alahmad, Mahya Rahbar & Xinwei Wang

  2. Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Electronic Materials, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, People’s Republic of China

    Meng Han

  3. School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Lin

  4. School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Shen Xu

Authors
  1. Qusai Alahmad
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  2. Mahya Rahbar
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  3. Meng Han
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  4. Huan Lin
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  5. Shen Xu
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  6. Xinwei Wang
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Contributions

QA and MR did experiment, data processing and analysis. MH and HL did structure characterization and analysis. SX and XW conceived the research idea, supervised the project and conducted data analysis. All authors participated in paper writing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shen Xu or Xinwei Wang.

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Alahmad, Q., Rahbar, M., Han, M. et al. Thermal Conductivity of Gas Diffusion Layers of PEM Fuel Cells: Anisotropy and Effects of Structures. Int J Thermophys 44, 167 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-023-03283-2

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