Numerical modeling and analysis of micro-porous layer effects in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

It is well known that a micro-porous layer (MPL) plays a crucial role in the water management of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), and thereby, significantly stabilizes and improves cell performance. To ascertain the exact roles of MPLs, a numerical MPL model is developed in this study and incorporated with comprehensive, multi-dimensional, multi-phase fuel-cell models that have been devised earlier. The effects of different porous properties and liquid-entry pressures between an MPL and a gas diffusion layer (GDL) are examined via fully three-dimensional numerical simulations. First, when the differences in pore properties and wettability between the MPL and GDL are taken into account but the difference in the entry pressures is ignored, the numerical MPL model captures a discontinuity in liquid saturation at the GDL|MPL interface. The simulation does not, however, capture the beneficial effects of an MPL on cell performance, predicting even lower performance than in the case of no MPL. On the other hand, when a high liquid-entry pressure in an MPL is additionally considered, the numerical MPL model predicts a liquid-free MPL and successfully demonstrates the phenomenon that the high liquid-entry pressure of the MPL prevents any liquid water from entering the MPL. Consequently, it is found from the simulation results that a liquid-free MPL significantly enhances the back-flow of water across the membrane into the anode, which, in turn, helps to avoid membrane dehydration and alleviate the level of GDL flooding. As a result, the model successfully reports the beneficial effects of MPLs on PEFC performance and predicts higher performance in the presence of MPLs (e.g., an increase of 67 mV at 1.5 A cm⁻²). This study provides a fundamental explanation of the function of MPLs and quantifies the influence of their porous properties and the liquid-entry pressure on water transport and cell performance.