IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v241y2025ics0960148124023851.html

Flow field design and parameter optimization of PEMFC based on leaf vein structure

Author

Listed:
  • Xiao, Fei
  • Chen, Tao
  • Gan, zhongyu
  • Lan, Yang
  • Chen, Ziyu

Abstract

The flow field of proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) serves as an important place for reactant transport, and a reasonable flow field design plays an important role in the performance, reliability and durability of the PEMFC. In this paper, a leaf vein type biomimetic flow field was designed based on the leaf vein structure of a tree leaf, and a two-phase steady-state numerical model of PEMFC was established, which provides theoretical support for the optimization of the biomimetic flow field. In order to improve the performance of the PEMFC with biomimetic flow field, a Kriging model was combined with genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) to achieve a multi-objective optimization of the structural parameters of the flow field. Finally, the performance differences between the optimized biomimetic and conventional flow fields are investigated by experiments. The results showed that the inlet width of main channel the and the angle between the main and secondary channels have a significant effect on the performance of biomimetic flow field, and the performance of the optimized biomimetic flow fields is significantly improved. Comparison with the conventional flow field reveals that the optimized biomimetic flow field has more obvious advantages at high current densities.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiao, Fei & Chen, Tao & Gan, zhongyu & Lan, Yang & Chen, Ziyu, 2025. "Flow field design and parameter optimization of PEMFC based on leaf vein structure," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:241:y:2025:i:c:s0960148124023851
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.122317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148124023851
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2024.122317?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. 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).
    2. Zhang, Jian & Huang, Pengyi & Ding, Honghui & Xin, Dongqun & Sun, Shufeng, 2023. "Investigation of the three-dimensional flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cell with additive manufactured stainless steel bipolar plates: Numerical simulation and experiments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    3. Damian-Ascencio, Cesar E. & Saldaña-Robles, Adriana & Hernandez-Guerrero, Abel & Cano-Andrade, Sergio, 2017. "Numerical modeling of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with tree-like flow field channels based on an entropy generation analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 306-316.
    4. 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).
    5. Katherine A. McCulloh & John S. Sperry & Frederick R. Adler, 2003. "Water transport in plants obeys Murray's law," Nature, Nature, vol. 421(6926), pages 939-942, February.
    6. Cai, Yonghua & Wu, Di & Sun, Jingming & Chen, Ben, 2021. "The effect of cathode channel blockages on the enhanced mass transfer and performance of PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    7. Yin, Yan & Wu, Shiyu & Qin, Yanzhou & Otoo, Obed Nenyi & Zhang, Junfeng, 2020. "Quantitative analysis of trapezoid baffle block sloping angles on oxygen transport and performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    8. Cai, Genchun & Liang, Yunmin & Liu, Zhichun & Liu, Wei, 2020. "Design and optimization of bio-inspired wave-like channel for a PEM fuel cell applying genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Xu, Jiamin & Zhang, Caizhi & Wan, Zhongmin & Chen, Xi & Chan, Siew Hwa & Tu, Zhengkai, 2022. "Progress and perspectives of integrated thermal management systems in PEM fuel cell vehicles: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Li, Wenkai & Zhang, Qinglei & Wang, Chao & Yan, Xiaohui & Shen, Shuiyun & Xia, Guofeng & Zhu, Fengjuan & Zhang, Junliang, 2017. "Experimental and numerical analysis of a three-dimensional flow field for PEMFCs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 278-288.
    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).
    2. Kuang, Jinbo & Fu, Jianqin & Zhou, Peng & Zhang, Guanjie & Sun, Xilei, 2025. "Triangular baffle design for proton exchange membrane fuel cell bipolar-plate channels evaluated by decoupled multi-physics analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(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. 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).
    2. 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).
    3. Sun, Yun & Lin, Yixiong & Wang, Qinglian & Yang, Chen & Yin, Wang & Wan, Zhongmin & Qiu, Ting, 2024. "Novel design and numerical investigation of a windward bend flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    4. Zhou, Yu & Chen, Ben & Meng, Kai & Zhou, Haoran & Chen, Wenshang & Zhang, Ning & Deng, Qihao & Yang, Guanghua & Tu, Zhengkai, 2023. "Optimal design of a cathode flow field for performance enhancement of PEM fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    5. Kuang, Jinbo & Fu, Jianqin & Zhou, Peng & Zhang, Guanjie & Sun, Xilei, 2025. "Triangular baffle design for proton exchange membrane fuel cell bipolar-plate channels evaluated by decoupled multi-physics analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    6. Yonghua Cai & Jingming Sun & Fan Wei & Ben Chen, 2022. "Effect of Baffle Dimensionless Size Factor on the Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Nguyen, Ba Hieu & Kim, Hyun Chul, 2024. "Novel design of a staggered-trap/block flow field for use in serpentine proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    8. 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).
    9. 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).
    10. 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).
    11. Tian, Cong & Yuan, Fang & Deng, Tianlun & He, Qianhui & Hu, Cen & Chen, Yong & Liu, Wei, 2024. "Coupled optimization of auxiliary channels and porosity gradient of GDL for PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    12. 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).
    13. Xiong, Kangning & Wu, Wei & Wang, Shuangfeng & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Modeling, design, materials and fabrication of bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    14. Zhou, Yu & Wu, Mingyang & Meng, Kai & Liu, Yurong & Rao, Peng & Wu, Xiao & Huang, Shuyi & Li, Ke & Zheng, Chongwei & Wu, Daoxiong & Deng, Peilin & Li, Jing & Tian, Xinlong & Kang, Zhenye, 2024. "Microscale structure optimization of catalyst layer for comprehensive performance enhancement in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    15. 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).
    16. Sadiq T. Bunyan & Hayder A. Dhahad & Dhamyaa S. Khudhur & Talal Yusaf, 2023. "The Effect of Flow Field Design Parameters on the Performance of PEMFC: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-62, June.
    17. Li, Zhengyan & Xian, Lei & Wang, Qiuyu & Wang, Junwei & Chen, Lei & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2024. "Performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell by utilizing a blocked regulated tri-serpentine flow field: Comprehensive optimization with variable block heights and multiple auxiliary channels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).
    18. Wang, Yulin & Wang, Xiaoai & Fan, Yuanzhi & He, Wei & Guan, Jinglei & Wang, Xiaodong, 2022. "Numerical Investigation of Tapered Flow Field Configurations for Enhanced Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    19. 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).
    20. Yang, Jiebo & Yu, Qinghua & Chen, Sheng & Yan, Fuwu & Jin, Yongcheng, 2025. "Performance enhancement of thermally regenerative flow battery by a novel design coupling Venturi-effect-inducing structure with nature-inspired flow distributors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(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:renene:v:241:y:2025:i:c:s0960148124023851. 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/renewable-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.