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A biomimetic airfoil flow field to improve mass transfer and gas distribution of PEMFC

Author

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  • Jiang, Ke
  • Fan, Wenxuan
  • Zhao, Taotao
  • Liu, Mingxin
  • Su, Xunkang
  • Luan, Yang
  • Zheng, Tongxi
  • Feng, Yihui
  • Wang, Mi
  • Lu, Guolong
  • Liu, Zhenning

Abstract

The design of bipolar plate flow fields significantly impacts reactant distribution and mass transfer capabilities in fuel cells, thereby influencing overall cell performance. Herein, biomimetic airfoil units (BAUs) are introduced into conventional parallel flow field (CPFF) as suspended baffles to enhance gas distribution uniformity and improve mass transfer, leveraging the guiding and low-resistance characteristics of airfoil structures. The effects of BAU height and rotation angle on overall performance have been systematically analyzed by numerical simulations to identify the optimal configuration for BAUs. It is found that the biomimetic airflow flow field (BAFF) significantly enhances gas distribution uniformity and mass transfer capabilities. Compared to CPFF, the proposed BAFF induces forced convection in the regions near BAUs, thus enhancing reactant diffusion. The optimized BAFF shows improvements of 10.3 % in net power density, 12.3 % in oxygen distribution uniformity, and 35.8 % in mass transfer capability over CPFF. By optimizing gas distribution and mass transfer capabilities, the airfoil-inspired design significantly enhances fuel cell performance, offering a new perspective and methodology for the development of high-performance fuel cells.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Ke & Fan, Wenxuan & Zhao, Taotao & Liu, Mingxin & Su, Xunkang & Luan, Yang & Zheng, Tongxi & Feng, Yihui & Wang, Mi & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2025. "A biomimetic airfoil flow field to improve mass transfer and gas distribution of PEMFC," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:247:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125007098
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123047
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rezaei, Ahmad & Rahimi-Esbo, Mazaher & Firouzjaei, Kamran Dadashi & Alizadeh, Ebrahim, 2026. "Experimental and numerical investigation on the oxygen distribution in the cathode section of a PEMFC stack," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(PB).
    2. Jiang, Ke & Liang, Zhendong & Jiang, Haolin & Luan, Yang & Su, Xunkang & Zheng, Tongxi & Liu, Mingxin & Feng, Yihui & Li, Wenfei & Chen, Yongbang & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2025. "Systemic comparison of machine learning models in the optimization of flow field design for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Jiang, Ke & Jiang, Haolin & Zhang, Liang & Luan, Yang & Zheng, Tongxi & Liu, Mingxin & Su, Xunkang & Feng, Yihui & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2026. "AI-assisted design and optimization of novel asymmetric microchannel flow fields for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 405(C).
    5. Jiang, Ke & Liang, Zhendong & Jiang, Haolin & Zheng, Tongxi & Luan, Yang & Feng, Yihui & Lu, Guolong & Liu, Zhenning, 2025. "Artificial intelligence-assisted design and optimization of heterogeneous gas diffusion layers in PEMFCs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).

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