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In-phase current and temperature oscillations reduce PEM fuel cell resistivity: A modeling study

Andrei Kulikovsky

Abstract

We have developed a non-isothermal analytical model for the impedance of the cathode catalyst layer (CCL) in a PEM fuel cell. In-phase harmonic perturbations to the current density and temperature reduce the impedance and the static polarisation resistivity of the CCL due to lowering proton transport losses. A special selection of the current and temperature perturbation amplitudes allows for complete elimination of these losses.

In-phase current and temperature oscillations reduce PEM fuel cell resistivity: A modeling study

Abstract

We have developed a non-isothermal analytical model for the impedance of the cathode catalyst layer (CCL) in a PEM fuel cell. In-phase harmonic perturbations to the current density and temperature reduce the impedance and the static polarisation resistivity of the CCL due to lowering proton transport losses. A special selection of the current and temperature perturbation amplitudes allows for complete elimination of these losses.
Paper Structure (3 sections, 23 equations, 3 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 3 sections, 23 equations, 3 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Model
  3. Results and discussion

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Schematic of the cell cathode side. CCL, GDL and FF stand for the cathode catalyst layer, gas diffusion layer, and the flow field, respectively. $T_{\rm CCL}^1$ and $T_{\rm FF}^1$ indicate the AC perturbation amplitudes of the CCL and FF temperatures.
  • Figure 2: The Nyquist spectra of impedance Eq.\ref{['eq:tZtot']} for three values of the temperature control parameter $\kappa$. The cell current density is 200 mA cm$^{-2}$, the other parameters are listed in Table \ref{['tab:parms']}.
  • Figure 3: The Nyquist spectra of CCL impedance resulting from the numerical solution of Eq.\ref{['eq:teta1xF3']} with the $\tilde{x}$--dependent static overpotential $\tilde{\eta}^0(\tilde{x})$ for three values of the temperature control parameter $\kappa$. The cell current density is 413 mA cm$^{-2}$.