Polymer electrolyte fuel cell operating with nickel foam-based gas diffusion layers: A numerical investigation

Ercelik, Mustafa; Ismail, Mohammed S.; Hughes, Kevin J.; Ingham, Derek B.; Ma, Lin; Pourkashanian, Mohamed

Abstract

Due to their outstanding structural, transport and electrical characteristics, nickel foams serve as excellent candidate materials for gas diffusion layers (GDLs) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). In this work, a new three-dimensional PEFC model was developed to explore the local and global fuel cell performance with nickel foam-based GDLs. The fuel cell operating with nickel foam GDLs was shown to have, due to its superior mass and charge transport properties, higher oxygen and water concentration and current density compared to that operating with the conventional carbon fibre-based GDLs. The results show that the pumping power should be taken into account when optimising the dimensions of the flow channels and as such the net power density must be the criterion for optimisation. The optimal dimensions of the flow channels for the fuel cell operating with nickel foam based GDLs were found to be 0.25 mm for the channel height and 1 mm for the channel width; the maximum net power density with these dimensions was around 0.95 W/cm2 which is two times higher than that operating with carbon fibre based GDLs. All the results have been presented and critically discussed.

Citation

Ercelik, M., Ismail, M. S., Hughes, K. J., Ingham, D. B., Ma, L., & Pourkashanian, M. (2025). Polymer electrolyte fuel cell operating with nickel foam-based gas diffusion layers: A numerical investigation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 104, 496-512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.05.084

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 6, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 22, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 28, 2025
• Deposit Date: May 26, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 4, 2025
• Journal: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
• Print ISSN: 0360-3199
• Electronic ISSN: 0360-3199
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 104
• Pages: 496-512
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.05.084
• Keywords: Polymer electrolyte fuel cell; Gas diffusion layer; Nickel foam; Flow channel design; Rib and channel dimensional optimisation; Numerical modelling
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4674597