Abstract
In this study, a novel titanium thin LGDL with well-tunable pore morphologies was developed by employing nano-manufacturing and was applied in a standard PEMEC. The LGDL tests show significant performance improvements. The operating voltages required at a current density of 2.0 A/cm2 were as low as 1.69 V, and its efficiency reached a report high of up to 88%. The new thin and flat LGDL with well-tunable straight pores has been demonstrated to remarkably reduce the ohmic, interfacial and transport losses. In addition, well-tunable features, including pore size, pore shape, pore distribution, and thus porosity and permeability, will be very valuable for developing PEMEC models and for validation of its simulations with optimal and repeatable performance. The LGDL thickness reduction from greater than 350 μm of conventional LGDLs to 25 μm will greatly decrease the weight and volume of PEMEC stacks, and represents a new direction for future developments of low-cost PEMECs with high performance.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 817-822 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Applied Energy |
Volume | 177 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2016 |
Funding
The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DE-FE0011585 . The research was partially performed at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is sponsored by DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences . The authors also wish to express their appreciations to Dr. Bo Han, Stuart Steen, William C. Barnhill, Alexander Terekhov, Douglas Warnberg, Kate Lansford, Andrew Mays, and Rong Chen for their help.
Keywords
- Hydrogen production
- Liquid/gas diffusion layers
- Performance and efficiency
- Proton exchange membrane fuel cells/electrolyzer cells
- Water splitting