Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) are eco-friendly energy conversion system that converts chemical energy into electrical energy through electrochemical reaction and emits only pure water as a result of the reaction. However, commercialization has been delayed due to its high cost and low performance, and many researchers have tried to improve the performance. Although the catalytic activity of the electrocatalyst has improved dramatically, the performance of the fuel cell could not achieve the performance of the half-cell test. This difference is due to the mass transport loss of reactants and products in membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Therefore, reducing mass transport loss is a major factor in performance improvement and maintenance. The flow field of the bipolar plates is an important component of the PEMFC to improve mass transfer and water management, and various types of flow fields have been reported to improve mass transport and enhance cell performance. Among them, porous metals have potential as flow fields with attractive properties such as high porosity, controllable permeability and high specific surface area. Here in, we used porous metal foam as the flow field and investigated the effect of microstructure of porous metal foam on fuel cell performance by applying various microstructure metal foams. The foam flow field improves the reaction rate and the mass transfer improvement of the catalyst to improve the reactant utilization. Single cell test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope were evaluated to investigate the effect of copper foam on cell performance.

Effect of microstructure of porous flow field on performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

2019 Fall National Meeting

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