IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v256y2026ipes0960148125018580.html

Effects of oxygen bubble formation in the porous transport layer on the performance of polymer-electrolyte-membrane water electrolyzer

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Changwook
  • Seo, Seunghwan
  • Yoon, Soobin
  • Kim, Jihoo
  • Park, Youngjune
  • Lee, Pilyoung
  • You, Donghyun

Abstract

The influence of porous-transport-layer (PTL) microstructures on the performance of polymer-electrolyte-membrane-water-electrolyzers (PEMWEs) is investigated. Oxygen bubble dynamics in powder-type PTLs (P-PTLs) and fiber-type PTLs (F-PTLs) with varying porosities and pore diameters are simulated using a lattice Boltzmann method, where oxygen-water interactions and capillary effects are resolved at the pore scale. To quantify the impact of microscale dynamics on device-level performance, a separate PEMWE model is constructed based on the Navier–Stokes equations, where contact resistance at the PTL-catalyst interface is incorporated. The PEMWE model is validated against experimental polarization curves, while pore-scale bubble behavior is verified using droplet and bubble tests. In P-PTLs, oxygen saturation near the catalyst layer is reduced, and water transport is enhanced as porosity increases. Larger powder diameters promote the formation of consolidated oxygen pathways, which further facilitate water supply. However, these structural advantages are accompanied by increased contact resistance due to a decrease in interfacial contact area. In contrast, F-PTLs are characterized by secondary fingering and excessive oxygen accumulation, limiting water supply, and resulting in higher contact resistance at the same porosity. A clear trade-off between mass transport and interfacial resistance is identified, and P-PTLs are shown to provide superior overall PEMWE performance compared to F-PTLs.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Changwook & Seo, Seunghwan & Yoon, Soobin & Kim, Jihoo & Park, Youngjune & Lee, Pilyoung & You, Donghyun, 2026. "Effects of oxygen bubble formation in the porous transport layer on the performance of polymer-electrolyte-membrane water electrolyzer," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(PE).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:256:y:2026:i:pe:s0960148125018580
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.124194
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125018580
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2025.124194?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. Toghyani, S. & Afshari, E. & Baniasadi, E. & Atyabi, S.A. & Naterer, G.F., 2018. "Thermal and electrochemical performance assessment of a high temperature PEM electrolyzer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 237-246.
    2. Upadhyay, Mukesh & Kim, Ayeon & Paramanantham, SalaiSargunan S. & Kim, Heehyang & Lim, Dongjun & Lee, Sunyoung & Moon, Sangbong & Lim, Hankwon, 2022. "Three-dimensional CFD simulation of proton exchange membrane water electrolyser: Performance assessment under different condition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    3. Zhu, Yanxi & Zhang, Yixiang & Bin, Shiyu & Chen, Zeyi & Zhang, Fanhang & Gong, Shihao & Xia, Yan & Duan, Xiongbo, 2024. "Effects of key design and operating parameters on the performance of the PEM water electrolysis for hydrogen production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    4. Liu, Chang & Wrubel, Jacob A. & Padgett, Elliot & Bender, Guido, 2024. "Impacts of PTL coating gaps on cell performance for PEM water electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    5. Zheng, Nan & Zhang, Hanfei & Duan, Liqiang & Wang, Xiaomeng & Wang, Qiushi & Liu, Luyao, 2023. "Multi-criteria performance analysis and optimization of a solar-driven CCHP system based on PEMWE, SOFC, TES, and novel PVT for hotel and office buildings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1249-1264.
    6. Akdağ, Ozan, 2025. "Modeling and economic evaluation of hybrid renewable energy sources for green hydrogen production: A case study for the Mediterranean region," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    7. Xu, Guizhi & Du, Xiaoze & Ding, Wenjie & Ma, Sai & Zhang, Liang & Li, Jun & Huang, Jian & Song, Jie & Liang, Danxi, 2024. "Nano-Pd loaded composite membrane for reduced hydrogen crossover in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis via recasting method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Wu, Lizhen & An, Liang & Jiao, Daokuan & Xu, Yifan & Zhang, Guobin & Jiao, Kui, 2022. "Enhanced oxygen discharge with structured mesh channel in proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    10. Xu, Chenyang & Wang, Jian & Wang, Jianzhong & Yang, Kun & Li, Guangzhong & Gao, Wenbin & Wang, Hao & Zhao, Shaoyang, 2024. "Structural optimization study on porous transport layers of sintered titanium for polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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, Haoran & Chen, Wenshang & Meng, Kai & Deng, Qihao & Zhang, Ning & Chen, Ben, 2025. "A review on proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer: advances in heat and mass transport," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    2. Su, Chao & Chen, Zhidong & Wu, Zexuan & Zhang, Jing & Li, Kaiyang & Hao, Junhong & Kong, Yanqiang & Zhang, Naiqiang, 2024. "Experimental and numerical study of thermal coupling on catalyst-coated membrane for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    3. Du, Tao & Wang, Changjian & Ma, Hongsheng & Xu, Yunbo & Li, Yang, 2025. "Experimental investigation on the effects of water flow rates and wind speeds on the temperature and performance of PEM electrolyzer stacks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    4. Wu, Horng-Wen & Ho, Tzu-Yi & Han, Yueh-Jung, 2021. "Parametric optimization of wall-mounted cuboid rows installed in interdigitated flow channel of HT-PEM fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    5. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "A novel electrochemical refrigeration system based on the combined proton exchange membrane fuel cell-electrolyzer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    6. Atyabi, Seyed Ali & Afshari, Ebrahim & Wongwises, Somchai & Yan, Wen-Mon & Hadjadj, Abdellah & Shadloo, Mostafa Safdari, 2019. "Effects of assembly pressure on PEM fuel cell performance by taking into accounts electrical and thermal contact resistances," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 490-501.
    7. Xu, Boshi & Yang, Yang & Li, Jun & Wang, Yang & Ye, Dingding & Zhang, Liang & Zhu, Xun & Liao, Qiang, 2024. "Computational assessment of response to fluctuating load of renewable energy in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    8. Zhao, Dongqi & Li, Jisen & Zhou, Ze & Zhang, Liyan & Li, Zheng & Chen, Qihong & Li, Xi, 2025. "Multiscale modeling and optimization of proton exchange membrane electrolysis cells: a review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 398(C).
    9. Fu, J.L. & Qu, Z.G. & Zhang, J.F. & Zhang, G.B., 2023. "Performance analysis of PEMEC with non-uniform deformation based on a comprehensive numerical framework coupling image recognition and CFD," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    10. Abdollahipour, Armin & Sayyaadi, Hoseyn, 2022. "Optimal design of a hybrid power generation system based on integrating PEM fuel cell and PEM electrolyzer as a moderator for micro-renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    11. Yang, Junna & Wang, Xiuyue & Ding, Zheyuan & Kang, Zhenye & Wang, Bin & Du, Ziting & Wang, Min & Zhang, Feng-Yuan, 2025. "Combining materials development with structural design: Insights into porous transport layer for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    12. Lin, Rui & Lu, Ying & Xu, Ji & Huo, Jiawei & Cai, Xin, 2022. "Investigation on performance of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer with different flow field structures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    13. Wang, Hao & Wang, Weiding & Lin, Chuanjie & Lai, Yongquan & Li, Changchen & Xu, Ziyou & Yang, Yuanbo & Yang, Yimin & Dong, Wenxuan & Su, Jinzhan, 2025. "Hydrogen production performance optimization for direct-coupled photovoltaic electrolysis systems based on a novel 3D opto-electro-thermal model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 392(C).
    14. Liu, Guoqiu & Li, Zhengyan & Chen, Lei & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2025. "Multi-objective optimization design and numerical analysis of air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell with bamboo flow field based on neural network model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 399(C).
    15. Miao, Zheng & Jia, Tianxu & Xu, Jinliang & Xu, Chao, 2025. "Effect of the anisotropy of gas diffusion layer on transport characteristics and performance of a PEM electrolysis cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    16. Liao, Shuxin & Qiu, Diankai & Yi, Peiyun & Peng, Linfa & Lai, Xinmin, 2022. "Modeling of a novel cathode flow field design with optimized sub-channels to improve drainage for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    17. Somayeh Toghyani & Seyed Ali Atyabi & Xin Gao, 2021. "Enhancing the Specific Power of a PEM Fuel Cell Powered UAV with a Novel Bean-Shaped Flow Field," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Dan Shao & Liangyong Hu & Guoqing Zhang & Kaicheng Hu & Jiangyun Zhang & Jun Liu & Kang Peng & Liqin Jiang & Wenzhao Jiang & Yuliang Wen, 2024. "Numerical Investigation of Flow Field Distributions and Water and Thermal Management for a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Movahedi, M. & Ramiar, A. & Ranjber, A.A., 2018. "3D numerical investigation of clamping pressure effect on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with interdigitated flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 617-632.
    20. 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).

    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:256:y:2026:i:pe:s0960148125018580. 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.