Numerical Investigation of Water Management in the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Cathode and Anode

The numerical investigation of a PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) is accounted for by assuming the flow to be steady, two-dimensional with liquid water transport and all cell layers including cathode and anode electrodes are simultaneously modeled. Also, the effect of gas cross-over through the membrane in waste of energy is investigated. The results show that when the effects of liquid water is taken into account, both the polarization and cross-over efficiency curves show lower amounts. The choice of a hydrophobic gas diffusion layer (GDL) for cathode and the hydrophilic GDL for anode increases the cell efficiency. High current density leads to higher water liquid saturation at both electrodes. It was observed that the amount of saturated liquid water on anode is considerable that calls for further investigation of liquid water behavior in this electrode.