Review of bipolar plates in PEM fuel cells: Flow-field designs

The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell is a promising candidate as zero-emission power source for transport and stationary cogeneration applications due to its high efficiency, low-temperature operation, high power density, fast start-up, and system robustness. Bipolar plate is a vital component of PEM fuel cells, which supplies fuel and oxidant to reactive sites, removes reaction products, collects produced current and provides mechanical support for the cells in the stack. Bipolar plates constitute more than 60% of the weight and 30% of the total cost in a fuel cell stack. For this reason, the weight, volume and cost of the fuel cell stack can be reduced significantly by improving layout configuration of flow field and use of lightweight materials. Different combinations of materials, flow-field layouts and fabrication techniques have been developed for these plates to achieve aforementioned functions efficiently, with the aim of obtaining high performance and economic advantages. The present paper presents a comprehensive review of the flow-field layouts developed by different companies and research groups and the pros and cons associated with these designs.     

Air-breathing miniature planar stack using the flexible printed circuit board as a current collector

To maximize power density, the volume of a fuel cell stack should be reduced by miniaturizing the stack components. In this study, thin flexible printed circuit board was utilized as a current collector in order to reduce an air-breathing monopolar stack's volume. Also, the effects of varying the geometry and opening ratios of the ports to the cathode on stack performance were evaluated in order to determine the optimal cathode structure. Use of the thin current collector and cathode port optimization resulted in an output of 3.5 W from an 18 cm³ stack (power density of 350 mW/cm²). The effects of orientation under passive air-breathing operation were determined to be nearly negligible. All data was measured at ambient pressure and temperature, baseline conditions for mobile fuel cell intended for use in consumer electronics.     

Development of titanium bipolar plates fabricated by additive manufacturing for PEM fuel cells in electric vehicles

Bipolar plates (BPs) are one of the main parts of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks, which constitute a significant percentage of a PEM fuel cell system in terms of cost, weight, and structural strength. Although frequently used graphite BPs have low density, high conductivity, and high corrosion resistance, machining the desired flow channels on these plates is challenging. On the other hand, BPs made of various materials rather than graphite can be also fabricated by additive manufacturing methods. These methods can be considered as a reasonable alternative to conventional machining for the fabrication of graphite BPs in PEM fuel cells regarding material cost, fabrication of flow channels, and some post-processes in which the large-scale manufacturing of graphite BPs is more complex. This study offers a comparison of formed stainless-steel, additive manufactured titanium and machined composite graphite plates having the same flow-field geometry as a bipolar plate. In addition, titanium BPs are coated with gold and their performances are compared. Among the cells tested, the highest peak power of 639 mWcm^?2 is measured from the cell with 450 nm gold coated titanium BP, whereas those of the cell with conventional graphite and stainless-steel BP are only around 322 mWcm^?2 and 173 mWcm^?2, respectively. Moreover, a new titanium bipolar plate design providing high specific power density is also presented.     

Sequential flow membraneless microfluidic fuel cell with porous electrodes

A novel convective flow membraneless microfluidic fuel cell with porous disk electrodes is described. In this fuel cell design, the fuel flows radially outward through a thin disk shaped anode and across a gap to a ring shaped cathode. An oxidant is introduced into the gap between anode and cathode and advects radially outward to the cathode. This fuel cell differs from previous membraneless designs in that the fuel and the oxidant flow in series, rather than in parallel, enabling independent control over the fuel and oxidant flow rate and the electrode areas. The cell uses formic acid as a fuel and potassium permanganate as the oxidant, both contained in a sulfuric acid electrolyte. The flow velocity field is examined using microscale particle image velocimetry and shown to be nearly axisymmetric and steady. The results show that increasing the electrolyte concentration reduces the cell Ohmic resistance, resulting in larger maximum currents and peak power densities. Increasing the flow rate delays the onset of mass transport and reduces Ohmic losses resulting in larger maximum currents and peak power densities. An average open circuit potential of 1.2 V is obtained with maximum current and power densities of 5.35 mA cm⁻² and 2.8 mW cm⁻², respectively (cell electrode area of 4.3 cm²). At a flow rate of 100 μL min⁻¹ a fuel utilization of 58% is obtained.     

Preliminary experimental study of the performances for a print circuit board based planar PEMFC stack

This paper presents a novel planar proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack designed for portable electronic devices, consisting of twenty homemade membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) arranged on a planar surface and three printed circuit boards (PCBs, including anode, interlayer and cathode PCBs) used to load these MEAs. The current collectors and electrical connectors are manufactured using printed circuit technology. The inlet holes of reaction gases are also machined on PCB substrates. The output performance tests are performed on the MEAs and the assembled planar PEMFC stack. The results show that the power densities of the MEAs and the planar PEMFC stack are 0.6 W/cm² and 0.361 W/cm² at rated voltage under ambient temperature and forced convection air conditions, respectively. The stability tests are also conducted on the planar PEMFC stack, and the results show no significant fluctuations in output current. The feasibility of the application of planar PEMFC stacks in portable electronic devices is preliminarily demonstrated, and the improvement directions for further improving the output performance are proposed accordingly.     

Utilization of 3D printed carbon gas diffusion layers in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

3D printing and carbonisation is used to produce designed gas diffusion layer materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). Using a desktop UV 3D printer, designed porous microstructures are printed with micro and macro-scale features. Successful improvement of the pyrolysis process maintains the structural accuracy during carbonisation, reducing the material to electrically conductive carbon. The size of the material allows for testing in a lab scale fuel cell with 1.5 × 1.5 cm electrode size, which shows lower but interesting electrochemical performance (power density of 205 mW cm^?2). Challenges associated with integration of a 3D printed structure into a membrane electrode assembly are highlighted, including the low open circuit voltage caused by large amounts of membrane deformation and subsequent hydrogen crossover. This study shows that it is possible to design and manufacture a gas diffusion layer for fuel cells. Numerical simulation on the new GDL structure shows that advective-diffusive transport of oxygen in the 3D printed design is superior to conventional carbon paper. This study serves as the first attempt to implement 3D printed microstructures as GDL into PEMFC.     

Improved polymer electrolyte fuel cell performance with membrane electrode assemblies using modified metallic plate: Comparative study on impact of various coatings

Bipolar plate is one of the key components of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. In the present study, metallic plates are explored as bipolar plates in comparison to most generally used high-density graphite plates. Among various metals, stainless steel 316L is preferred due to its low cost, high strength, ease of machining and for its corrosion resistance characteristics. However, the challenges associated with metallic plates are high interfacial contact resistance due to passive oxide layer formation and possible corrosion product during operation in chemically harsh environments, which may contaminate the membrane electrode assembly. Three electrically conductive and corrosion resistant coatings namely Titanium Nitrides, Plasma Nitride, and Gold have been coated over the surface of stainless steel 316L metallic plate to overcome these challenges and to explore their impact on fuel cell performance using standard membrane electrode assemblies. These coatings are characterized by X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy along with interfacial contact resistance measurements. Further, the coated SS plates have been tested in real time polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell operation for their use as bipolar plates and their performances have been compared with the fuel cell comprising conventional graphite plates. A cell comprising Titanium Nitride, Gold and Plasma Nitride coated metallic plates exhibit a power density of 430, 720 & 268 mW cm⁻² respectively, at an operating fuel cell potential of 0.6 V. Gold coated metallic plate shows comparable polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell performance in relation to conventional graphite plate.     

Mass production cost of PEM fuel cell by learning curve

A learning curve model has been developed to analyze the mass production cost structure of proton exchange membrane fuel cells for automobiles. The fuel cell stack cost is aggregated by the cost of membranes, platinum, electrodes, bipolar plates, peripherals and assembly process. The mass production effects on these components are estimated. Nine scenarios with different progress ratios and future power densities are calculated by the learning curve for cumulative production of 50 000 and 5 million vehicles. The results showed that the fuel cell stack cost could be reduced to the same level as that of an internal combustion engine today, and that the key factors are power density improvement and mass production process of bipolar plates and electrodes for reducing total cost of fuel cell stack.     

Prediction of anode performances of direct methanol fuel cells with different flow-field design using computational simulation

Three-dimensional computational simulation was employed to illustrate the performance characteristics according to the flow-field design by solving the physics in the flow field and the diffusion layer and by calculating the electrochemical reaction at the catalyst layer. The pressure loss and the concentration distribution in the anode were analyzed for four types of flow field, parallel, serpentine, parallel serpentine and zigzag type. Also the anode current density distribution was predicted at the various overpotentials. The cell performance was proportional to the pressure drop for all the flow-field types. Zigzag type showed the best performance which has a good resistance against the fuel concentration polarization and the next was serpentine.     

A self-breathing metallic micro-direct methanol fuel cell with the improved cathode current collector

A self-breathing micro-direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) with active area of 0.64 cm² has been developed for powering portable applications. A cathode perforated current collector with parallel flow fields is presented in order to improve the cell performance. Compared with the conventional cathode self-breathing structure, the improved one can enhance oxygen transport and reduce water flooding utilizing multiphysics simulations. The stainless steel plates with the thickness of 0.3 mm as current collectors with parallel flow fields have been machined by thermally micro-stamping. For the cathode self-breathing openings, the perforated current collector has been realized using laser drilling. A 500 nm-thick titanium nitride (TiN) layer is deposited onto the surface of current collectors by magnetron sputtering ion plating (MSIP) technology to cover the cracks and prevent corrosion. Peak power density of the μDMFC reaches 27.1 mW/cm² at room temperature with 1.0 M methanol solutions of 1 ml/min. The results presented in this paper might be helpful for the development of micro power sources applied in future portable electronic devices.     

Planar air breathing PEMFC with self-humidifying MEA and open cathode geometry design for portable applications

In this paper, planar air breathing PEMFCs without the need for endplates are proposed for low power portable applications. PEMFCs with 3 different cathode designs (parallel slit, circular open and oblique slit) with the same opening ratio and employing self-humidifying MEAs were investigated. Performance and stability tests were conducted in hydrogen dead-end operation under both self-breathing and forced convection condition. It was found that rib geometry and hydraulic diameter have significant impact on oxygen transportation. It was concluded that circular opening design yields the best performance and highest limiting current. This is because this design provides the shortest rib distance and smallest hydraulic diameter. However, fuel cell instability was observed under self-breathing and forced convection condition. This is due to the water accumulation that could not be removed by natural-evaporation at the opening cathode. Overall, our proposed air breathing PEMFC achieves a specific power of 150 W kg⁻¹ and a power density of 347 mW cm⁻³.     

Performance of PEMFC stack using expanded graphite bipolar plates

The bipolar plates are in weight and volume the major part of PEM fuel cell stack, and also a significant effect to the stack cost. To develop the low-cost and low-weight bipolar plate for PEM fuel cell, we have developed a kind of cheap expanded graphite plate material and a production process for fuel cell bipolar plates. The plates have a high electric conductivity and low density, and can be stamped directly forming fuel cell bipolar plates. Then, 1 and 10 kW stacks using expanded graphite bipolar plates are successfully assembled. The contact resistance of the bipolar plate is investigated and the electrochemical performances of the fuel cell stacks are tested. Good fuel cell performance is obtained and the voltage distribution among every single cell in the stacks is very uniform.     

Oxidation-induced degradation and performance fluctuation of solid oxide fuel cell Ni anodes under simulated high fuel utilization conditions

High fuel utilization (Uf) conditions in a small-scale electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with an Ni-ScSZ anode were approximated by adjusting the gas composition to correspond to that in the downstream region of an SOFC stack. At Uf = 80%, and with a cell voltage of 0.5 V, the ohmic resistance fluctuated slightly from the early stages of operation, and became much more significant after 80 h. High current density and large polarization were found to promote Ni agglomeration, leading to insufficient connectivity of the Ni nanoparticles. At Uf = 95%, and with a cell voltage of 0.6 V, fluctuations in the polarization were observed at a much earlier stage, which are attributed to the highly humidified fuel. In particular, significant degradation was observed when the compensated anode potential (which incorporates the anode ohmic losses) approached the Ni oxidation potential. Ohmic losses in the anode are considered to influence Ni oxidation by exposing Ni near the electrolyte to a more oxidizing atmosphere with the increase in oxygen ion transport. Stable operation is therefore possible under conditions in which the compensated anode potential does not approach the Ni oxidation potential, assuming a stable interconnected Ni network.     

Performance of gold-coated titanium bipolar plates in unitized regenerative fuel cell operation

The corrosion of the carbon-based bipolar plate was studied under unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) operation conditions. At overpotentials higher than 2.0 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode (NHE), cell performance in the electrolyzer mode significantly decreases with time due to the increased ohmic resistance of the carbon-based bipolar plates. During fuel cell operation, the unit cell shows an ohmic resistance of approximately 0.15 Ω. After the operation in the electrolyzer mode, the ohmic resistance of the cell increases up to 1.24 Ω. The surface image of the carbon-based bipolar plate after water electrolysis reaction at 2.0 V shows a drastic corrosion at the contact area of the bipolar plate with the electrode. The corrosion of the rib in the flow-field increases the contact resistance between the electrode and the bipolar plate, which leads to the observed decrease in cell performance. A gold coating of 1 μm on the titanium bipolar plates is very effective in preventing titanium oxidation during the URFC operation. The ohmic resistance of the cells that are prepared with bare titanium and gold-deposited titanium bipolar plates is 0.40 Ω and 0.18 Ω, respectively. In fact, the gold coating serves as a barrier layer, which inhibits the formation of the passive layer on the surface of titanium-based bipolar plates. The cycling experiments in the fuel cell and in the electrolyzer mode indicate that the gold-coated titanium bipolar plates exhibit a stable performance.     

Effect of gas flow-field design in the bipolar/end plates on the steady and transient state performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

In this work the effect of gas flow-field design in the bipolar/end plates on the steady and transient state performance of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is presented. Simulations were performed with different flow-field designs, viz. (1) serpentine; (2) parallel; (3) multi-parallel; and (4) discontinuous. The steady-state voltage at fixed current density of 5000 A m⁻² was highest for discontinuous design. For studying the transient response, the average current density was increased suddenly from 5000 to 8000 A m⁻². It was seen that when the load level was increased, the voltage level suddenly dropped and then with time leveled off to a value slightly higher than the dropped value. This time for serpentine, parallel, multi-parallel and discontinuous flow-fields were 9.5, 7.5, 8.0 and 16.5 s, respectively. While it was seen that the steady-state performance of the discontinuous type of design was the maximum, its transient response was slow. On the other hand in case of parallel type of design the steady-state performance was low, but the transient response was high. The multi-parallel design offers a unique advantage of both of these properties, viz. high steady-state performance with good transient response, and therefore should perform better than the other designs chosen in this study.     

阴极流道分流进气对燃料电池性能影响的实验研究

针对高工作电流密度下,燃料电池内局部水淹导致的传质损失问题,本研究提出了一种阴极流道多进口分流进气方式。实验研究了三种典型分流口位置及分流进量对电池性能的影响。研究发现随着分流口远离阴极主进气口,电池性能呈现先上升后下降的趋势,且当分流口靠近主进气口时,增加分流量有助于电池性能提升,但分流量的增加对电池性能的提升存在一个极限值;因此,在对电池进行分流进气优化时需综合考虑分流口位置和分流量的影响。当分流口为SIP-30%且分流量为按化学当量比ξc = 0.75取值时,分流进气方式相比传统进气方式,电池的最大功率密度高出17.8%。     

An inverse geometry design problem for optimization of single serpentine flow field of PEM fuel cell

The cathode flow-field design of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) determines its reactant transport rates to the catalyst layer and removal rates of liquid water from the cell. This study optimizes the cathode flow field for a single serpentine PEM fuel cell with 5 channels using the heights of channels 2–5 as search parameters. This work describes an optimization approach that integrates the simplified conjugated-gradient scheme and a three-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal fuel cell model. The proposed optimal serpentine design, which is composed of three tapered channels (channels 2–4) and a final diverging channel (channel 5), increases cell output power by 11.9% over that of a cell with straight channels. These tapered channels enhance main channel flow and sub-rib convection, both increasing the local oxygen transport rate and, hence, local electrical current density. A diverging, final channel is preferred, conversely, to minimize reactant leakage to the outlet. The proposed combined approach is effective in optimizing the cathode flow-field design for a single serpentine PEMFC. The role of sub-rib convection on cell performance is demonstrated.     

Characterization of water management in metal foam flow-field based polymer electrolyte fuel cells using in-operando neutron radiography

Metal foam flow-fields have shown great potential in improving the uniformity of reactant distribution in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) by eliminating the ‘land/channel’ geometry of conventional designs. However, a detailed understanding of the water management in operational metal foam flow-field based PEFCs is limited. This study aims to provide the first clear evidence of how and where water is generated, accumulated and removed in the metal foam flow-field based PEFCs using in-operando neutron radiography, and correlate the water ‘maps’ with electrochemical performance and durability. Results show that the metal foam flow-field based PEFC has greater tolerance to dehydration at 1000 mA cm⁻², exhibiting a ~50% increase in voltage, ~127% increase in total water mass and ~38% decrease in high frequency resistance (HFR) than serpentine flow-field design. Additionally, the metal foam flow-field promotes more uniform water distribution where the standard deviation of the liquid water thickness distribution across the entire cell active area is almost half that of the serpentine. These superior characteristics of metal foam flow-field result in greater than twice the maximum power density over serpentine flow-field. Results suggest that optimizing fuel cell operating condition and foam microstructure would partly mitigate flooding in the metal foam flow-field based PEFC.     

Effects of Pt/C, Pd/C and PdPt/C anode catalysts on the performance and stability of air breathing direct formic acid fuel cells

Pt/C, Pd/C and PdPt/C catalysts are potential anodic candidates for electro-oxidation of formic acid. In this work we designed a miniature air breathing direct formic acid fuel cell, in which gold plated printed circuit boards are used as end plates and current collectors, and evaluated the effects of anode catalysts on open circuit voltage, power density and long-term discharging stability of the cell. It was found that the cell performance was strongly anode catalyst dependent. Pd/C demonstrated good catalytic activity but poor stability. A maximum power density of 25.1 mW cm⁻² was achieved when 5.0 M HCOOH was fed as electrolyte. Pt/C and PdPt/C showed poor activity but good stability, and the cell can discharge for about 10 h at 0.45 V (Pt/C anode) and 15 h at 0.3 V (PdPt/C) at 20 mA.     

Numerical optimization of bipolar plates and gas diffusion electrodes for PBI-based PEM fuel cells

This paper is devoted to the numerical optimization of the geometry of some key cell components (flow-field channels, current transfer ribs of bipolar plates, gas diffusion electrodes) of high-temperature PEM fuel cells using H₃PO₄-doped Poly Benzimidazole (PBI) as solid polymer electrolyte. Some design specifications as well as optimum values of key operating parameters are proposed to increase the efficiency of such fuel cells. For this purpose physicochemical model and corresponding novel effective technique for solving of 2D transport equation have been developed. Results of the numerical analysis of dependence of fuel cell performances upon the geometry of cathodic and anodic flow-field channels, operating temperature and gas diffusion electrode parameters are provided. In particular, it was demonstrated that optimum relative width of current-transfer rib (i.e. the ratio between width of rib divided to sum of widths of rib and channel) is determined mainly by competition between diffusion and current conductivity in a gas diffusion electrode and is approximately equal to 0.30–0.35 for the parameters of cell components used in this study.