TY - GEN
T1 - Water crossover reduction in DMFC utilizing hydrophobic anode MPL
AU - Shaffer, Christian E.
AU - Wang, Chao Yang
PY - 2008/12/1
Y1 - 2008/12/1
N2 - Reducing the water crossover from anode to cathode is an important goal for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology, especially if highly concentrated methanol fuel is to be used. A well-documented way to reduce this water loss to the cathode side is by using a hydrophobic cathode microporous layer (MPL). Recently, however, it has been demonstrated that in addition to a cathode MPL, the use of a hydrophobic anode MPL further reduces the water loss to the cathode. In this work, we use a two-phase transport model that accounts for capillary induced liquid flow in porous media to explain physically how a hydrophobic anode MPL acts to control the net water transport from anode to cathode. Additionally, we perform a case study and show that a thicker, more hydrophobic anode MPL with lower permeability is most effective in controlling the net water transport from anode to cathode.
AB - Reducing the water crossover from anode to cathode is an important goal for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology, especially if highly concentrated methanol fuel is to be used. A well-documented way to reduce this water loss to the cathode side is by using a hydrophobic cathode microporous layer (MPL). Recently, however, it has been demonstrated that in addition to a cathode MPL, the use of a hydrophobic anode MPL further reduces the water loss to the cathode. In this work, we use a two-phase transport model that accounts for capillary induced liquid flow in porous media to explain physically how a hydrophobic anode MPL acts to control the net water transport from anode to cathode. Additionally, we perform a case study and show that a thicker, more hydrophobic anode MPL with lower permeability is most effective in controlling the net water transport from anode to cathode.
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U2 - 10.1115/FuelCell2008-65019
DO - 10.1115/FuelCell2008-65019
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77952609497
SN - 0791843181
SN - 9780791843185
T3 - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering, and Technology
SP - 723
EP - 734
BT - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering, and Technology
T2 - 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering, and Technology
Y2 - 16 June 2008 through 18 June 2008
ER -