Manipulating Water in High-Performance Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells through Asymmetric Humidification and Wetproofing
Date
2015-02-20
Journal Title
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Publisher
The Electrochemical Society
Abstract
Hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells (HEMFCs) are an emerging low-cost alternative to conventional proton exchange membrane
fuel cells. In addition to producing water at the anode, HEMFCs consume water at the cathode, leading to distinctive water transport
behavior. We report that gas diffusion layer (GDL) wetproofing strictly lowers cell performance, but that the penalty is much higher
when the anode side is wetproofed compared to the cathode side. We attribute this penalty primarily to mass transport losses from
anode flooding, suggesting that cathode humidification may be more beneficial than anode humidification for this device. GDLs with
little or no wetproofing perform best, yielding a competitive peak power density of 737 mW cm−2.
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Citation
Kaspar, Robert B., et al. "Manipulating Water in High-Performance Hydroxide Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells through Asymmetric Humidification and Wetproofing." Journal of The Electrochemical Society 162.6 (2015): F483-F488.