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Effects of catalyst loading gradient in catalyst layers on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

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  • Roshandel, Ramin
  • Ahmadi, Farzad

Abstract

In this paper, numerical and analytical approaches are presented to evaluate the effect of catalyst loading gradient in the catalyst layer (CL) of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The model is developed based on agglomerate catalyst and accounts for reactant spices and charge (ion and electron) transport in the cathode side of a PEM fuel cell. The special variation of catalyst loading is considered in two direction, "across the layer" from membrane/CL interface to gas diffusion layer (GDL) and "in catalyst plane" under the channels and land areas in the channel direction. A fuel cell test stand is designed and built to facilitate experimental validation of the model. The primary basic analytical investigation shows improvement in fuel cell performance in comparison with uniform catalyst loading. More detailed numerical simulations confirm the analytical results and indicate that the catalyst loading distribution in the both directions has the significant effect on the catalyst utilization. It is also found that the key question of where to apply more catalyst to increases power density is addressed by the concept of locations at which the reaction occurs at the highest rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Roshandel, Ramin & Ahmadi, Farzad, 2013. "Effects of catalyst loading gradient in catalyst layers on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 921-931.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:50:y:2013:i:c:p:921-931
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.040
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cheng Wang & Shubo Wang & Linfa Peng & Junliang Zhang & Zhigang Shao & Jun Huang & Chunwen Sun & Minggao Ouyang & Xiangming He, 2016. "Recent Progress on the Key Materials and Components for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells in Vehicle Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-39, July.
    2. Wu, Horng-Wen, 2016. "A review of recent development: Transport and performance modeling of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 81-106.
    3. Ebrahimi, Sasan & Ghorbani, Babak & Vijayaraghavan, Krishna, 2017. "Optimization of catalyst distribution along PEMFC channel through a numerical two-phase model and genetic algorithm," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 846-854.
    4. Fan, Ruijia & Chang, Guofeng & Xu, Yiming & Xu, Jiamin, 2023. "Multi-objective optimization of graded catalyst layer to improve performance and current density uniformity of a PEMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    5. Wei, Pengnan & Chang, Guofeng & Fan, Ruijia & Xu, Yiming & Chen, Siqi, 2023. "Investigation of output performance and temperature distribution uniformity of PEMFC based on Pt loading gradient design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    6. Tzelepis, Stefanos & Kavadias, Kosmas A. & Marnellos, George E. & Xydis, George, 2021. "A review study on proton exchange membrane fuel cell electrochemical performance focusing on anode and cathode catalyst layer modelling at macroscopic level," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Xing, Lei & Shi, Weidong & Su, Huaneng & Xu, Qian & Das, Prodip K. & Mao, Baodong & Scott, Keith, 2019. "Membrane electrode assemblies for PEM fuel cells: A review of functional graded design and optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 445-464.

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