Numerical study on the performance prediction of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell

An electrochemical analysis on a single channel PEM fuel cell was carried out by Computational Fuel Cell Dynamics (CFCD). The objective was to assess the latest developments regarding the effects of change in the current collector materials, porosity of electrodes and gas diffusion layer on the fuel cell power density. Graphite, as the most applicable current collector material, was applied followed by Aluminum and Titanium. It was found that titanium enhances the performance of the fuel cell as compared to the graphite and aluminum. Other results obtained were: the total porosity of electrode's layers does not have a significant effect on power density. At higher porosity of gas diffusion layer at voltages higher than 0.5 is favorable in gas diffusion, which leads to better performance. A numerical model, based on the assessment of basic best practice guidelines for CFCD, was developed that led to reasonably good agreement with the experimental results.