IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v332y2025ics0360544225026817.html

Comprehensive investigation on impacts of flow uniformity on performance of large-scale PEM fuel cells

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Bin
  • Pan, Weitong
  • Hu, Zichao
  • Zhang, Guoyu
  • Tang, Longfei
  • Chen, Xueli
  • Wang, Fuchen

Abstract

Flow uniformity has a significant influence on the performance of large-scale Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells, which has not been thoroughly clarified in relevant studies. The objective of this work is to comprehensively examine the impacts of flow uniformity on cell performance by varying the channel geometry in the reaction zone and the transition zone percentage. Firstly, the evaluation of output performance is presented. Increasing the transition zone percentage brings cell performance closer to the Uniform scenario. However, for cases with confined transition zones, narrowing, extending, and lowering channels result in cell performance being lower (−0.101 A cm−2), equal (0.000 A cm−2), and higher (0.060 A cm−2) than the Uniform scenario, respectively. Secondly, the underlying mechanism is revealed based on the analyses of momentum and mass transfer. A reduced transition zone percentage corresponds to diminished flow uniformity. The change in the performance of cells with confined transition zones is related to the fluid redistribution characteristic, which is achieved by the transverse flow in the porous medium. The enhanced transverse flow transitions the mass transfer of reactant from restricted to improved. On this basis, three operating states of cells-starvation, satisfaction, and satiation-are defined and clarified.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Bin & Pan, Weitong & Hu, Zichao & Zhang, Guoyu & Tang, Longfei & Chen, Xueli & Wang, Fuchen, 2025. "Comprehensive investigation on impacts of flow uniformity on performance of large-scale PEM fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:332:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225026817
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225026817
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.137039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jiantao Fan & Ming Chen & Zhiliang Zhao & Zhen Zhang & Siyu Ye & Shaoyi Xu & Haijiang Wang & Hui Li, 2021. "Bridging the gap between highly active oxygen reduction reaction catalysts and effective catalyst layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 475-486, May.
    2. Rocha, C. & Knöri, T. & Ribeirinha, P. & Gazdzicki, P., 2024. "A review on flow field design for proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Challenges to increase the active area for MW applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Wang, Zhuo & Yang, Xi & Fang, Haoyan & Li, Qiming & Cao, Jing, 2024. "Investigation on performance of full-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Porous foam flow field with integrated bipolar plate/gas diffusion layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    4. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben & Chen, Wenshang & Deng, Qihao & Shen, Jun & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "A novel opposite sinusoidal wave flow channel for performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    5. Ying Da Wang & Quentin Meyer & Kunning Tang & James E. McClure & Robin T. White & Stephen T. Kelly & Matthew M. Crawford & Francesco Iacoviello & Dan J. L. Brett & Paul R. Shearing & Peyman Mostaghimi, 2023. "Large-scale physically accurate modelling of real proton exchange membrane fuel cell with deep learning," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben, 2023. "Investigation of optimization and evaluation criteria for flow field in proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Yin, Cong & Cao, Jishen & Tang, Qilin & Su, Yanghuai & Wang, Renkang & Li, Kai & Tang, Hao, 2022. "Study of internal performance of commercial-size fuel cell stack with 3D multi-physical model and high resolution current mapping," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    8. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Barriers of scaling-up fuel cells: Cost, durability and reliability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 509-521.
    9. Lu, Guolong & Fan, Wenxuan & Lu, Dafeng & Zhao, Taotao & Wu, Qianqian & Liu, Mingxin & Liu, Zhenning, 2024. "Lung-inspired hybrid flow field to enhance PEMFC performance: A case of dual optimization by response surface and artificial intelligence," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    10. Zhang, Shuanyang & Liu, Shun & Xu, Hongtao & Liu, Gaojie & Wang, Ke, 2022. "Performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells with honeycomb-like flow channel design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    11. Wang, Yulin & Guan, Chao & Li, Hua & Zhao, Yulong & Wang, Cheng & He, Wei, 2023. "Flow field configuration design for a large-scale hydrogen polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    12. Liu, Yuanyuan & Bao, Zhiming & Chen, Jinxing & Lv, Fangming & Jiao, Kui, 2024. "Design of a partially narrowed flow channel with a sub-distribution zone for the water management of large-size proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    13. Yang, Luo & Nik-Ghazali, Nik-Nazri & Ali, Mohammed A.H. & Chong, Wen Tong & Yang, Zhenzhong & Liu, Haichao, 2023. "A review on thermal management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Temperature distribution and control," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. David A. Cullen & K. C. Neyerlin & Rajesh K. Ahluwalia & Rangachary Mukundan & Karren L. More & Rodney L. Borup & Adam Z. Weber & Deborah J. Myers & Ahmet Kusoglu, 2021. "New roads and challenges for fuel cells in heavy-duty transportation," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 462-474, May.
    15. Zhang, Yong & Zhang, Dongjian & Zhang, Yifang & Jiang, Xiaohui & Yang, Xi & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Deng, Qihao & Chen, Ben & Liu, Qingshan & Chen, Yisong, 2025. "Spatial distribution characteristics of various physical quantities in PEM fuel cells: Entire morphology investigation based on bifurcated gas distribution zones," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    16. ChungHyuk Lee & Wilton J. M. Kort-Kamp & Haoran Yu & David A. Cullen & Brian M. Patterson & Tanvir Alam Arman & Siddharth Komini Babu & Rangachary Mukundan & Rod L. Borup & Jacob S. Spendelow, 2023. "Grooved electrodes for high-power-density fuel cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(7), pages 685-694, July.
    17. Kui Jiao & Jin Xuan & Qing Du & Zhiming Bao & Biao Xie & Bowen Wang & Yan Zhao & Linhao Fan & Huizhi Wang & Zhongjun Hou & Sen Huo & Nigel P. Brandon & Yan Yin & Michael D. Guiver, 2021. "Designing the next generation of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells," Nature, Nature, vol. 595(7867), pages 361-369, July.
    18. Afshari, E. & Mosharaf-Dehkordi, M. & Rajabian, H., 2017. "An investigation of the PEM fuel cells performance with partially restricted cathode flow channels and metal foam as a flow distributor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 705-715.
    19. Lu, Guolong & Liu, Mingxin & Su, Xunkang & Zheng, Tongxi & Luan, Yang & Fan, Wenxuan & Cui, Hao & Liu, Zhenning, 2024. "Study on counter-flow mass transfer characteristics and performance optimization of commercial large-scale proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    20. Liu, Jinping & Luo, Zixian & Hu, Jianping & Cai, Yonghua, 2025. "Study on a novel self-adaptive cathode flow field with deformable baffles for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Borjigin, Tala & Xiao, Feng & Li, Yuxin & Wang, Kaichen & Yu, Zhangying & Liao, Zhirong & Xu, Chao, 2025. "Topology optimization of flow distribution zones mitigating preferential flow in large-scale PEM electrolyzers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Bin & Pan, Weitong & Hu, Zichao & Zhang, Guoyu & Tang, Longfei & Chen, Xueli & Wang, Fuchen, 2025. "Impacts of scale-up and flow uniformity on performance of PEM fuel cells with wave flow fields," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    2. Yang, Wei-Wei & Liu, Zhao & Song, Li-Dong & Lin, Yi-Wan & Zhang, Jian-Fei & Qu, Zhi-Guo, 2026. "Advancing low-Pt catalyst layer design from multi-scale to cross-scale synergy optimization for high-performance and durable proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    3. Zhang, Yong & Zhang, Dongjian & Zhang, Yifang & Jiang, Xiaohui & Yang, Xi & Cao, Jing & Deng, Qihao & Chen, Ben & Liu, Qingshan & Chen, Yisong, 2025. "Investigation of mass spatial distribution characteristics in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Full-morphology simulation considering “mixed structure” gas distribution zones," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    4. Tao, Xingxiao & Zeng, Zhen & Liu, Huaiyu & Suo, Mengshan & Li, Qifeng & Sun, Kai & Che, Zhizhao & Wang, Tianyou, 2025. "PEM fuel cell with non-uniform porous metal foam as cathode flow field," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 380(C).
    5. Zhao, Taotao & Fan, Wenxuan & Cui, Hao & Liu, Mingxin & Zheng, Tongxi & Luan, Yang & Su, Xunkang & Liu, Chaozong & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2025. "3D hybrid-wettability fin channel with dual enhancement of drainage and mass transfer to improve PEMFC performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    6. Zhang, Yong & Zhang, Dongjian & Zhang, Yifang & Jiang, Xiaohui & Yang, Xi & Cao, Jing & Fang, Haoyan & Deng, Qihao & Chen, Ben & Liu, Qingshan & Chen, Yisong, 2025. "Spatial distribution characteristics of various physical quantities in PEM fuel cells: Entire morphology investigation based on bifurcated gas distribution zones," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    7. Zhang, Zhuo & Quan, Hong-Bing & Cai, Sai-Jie & Li, Zheng-Dao & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2025. "Design strategies for mainstream flow channels in large-area PEMFC: From typical units to large areas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    8. Wang, Bin & Pan, Weitong & Tian, Xinming & Tang, Longfei & Chen, Xueli & Wang, Fuchen, 2026. "Transforming adverse effect into beneficial outcome: A design strategy leveraging non-uniform flow for enhanced performance of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 406(C).
    9. Zhang, Yong & He, Shirong & Jiang, Xiaohui & Xiong, Mu & Ye, Yuntao & Yang, Xi, 2023. "Three-dimensional multi-phase simulation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance considering constriction straight channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    10. Luan, Yang & Su, Xunkang & Liu, Mingxin & Fan, Wenxuan & Zhao, Taotao & Jiang, Ke & Zheng, Tongxi & Feng, Yihui & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2026. "AI-aided optimization of droplet layout in distribution zone for commercial bipolar plates of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    11. Guo, Chao & Chen, Li & Tao, Wenquan, 2025. "Topology optimization of the gas distribution zone uniformity in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    12. Chen, Wei & He, Weibiao & Li, Yan & Zhu, Guohui & Zuo, Qingsong & Shen, Zhuang & Li, Jianxing, 2025. "Fish scale bionic flow field design and performance analysis of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    13. Qiao, Jia Nan & Guo, Hang & Ye, Fang & Chen, Hao, 2024. "A nonlinear contraction channel design inspired by typical mathematical curves: Boosting net power and water discharge of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    14. Hongbo Ji & Quan Yuan & Xiaoyong Zhu & Nenad Janković & Xiaoping Chen, 2025. "Multi-Objective Optimization of Blockage Design Parameters Affecting the Performance of PEMFC by OEM-AHP-EWM Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-19, March.
    15. Wang, Changjiang & Yu, Zeting & Liu, Wenjing & Qiao, Yanjin & Wang, Daohan & Cui, Bo & Gao, Hui, 2025. "Performance improvement for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with different parallel flow fields by optimizing ribs arrangement," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    16. Cai, Yonghua & Liu, Xiaomu & Wei, Fan & Luo, Zixian & Chen, Ben, 2024. "Numerical and experimental study on mass transfer and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with a gradient 3D flow field," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    17. Lin, P.Z. & Sun, J. & He, C.X. & Wu, M.C. & Zhao, T.S., 2024. "Modeling proton exchange membrane fuel cells with platinum-group-metal-free catalysts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    18. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben, 2023. "Investigation of optimization and evaluation criteria for flow field in proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    19. Yao, Lei & Deng, Juzheng & Dai, Huilin & Dai, Fuyou & Chen, Shiwei & Xiao, Yanqiu & Cui, Guangzhen & Fei, Zhigen, 2026. "Multi-level collaborative fault diagnosis and self-healing framework for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PE).
    20. Li, Fazong & Luo, Hao & Hu, Jianping & Cai, Yonghua & Yang, Tianqi, 2025. "Study on a novel dot array cathode flow field with discrete ship-shaped ribs structures for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 393(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:332:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225026817. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.