Combined effects of microstructural characteristics on anisotropic transport properties of gas diffusion layers for PEMFCs

Gas diffusion layer (GDL) plays a key role in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, which provides multi-functions for gas transport, thermal-electrical conduction and mechanical support. Coupling manipulation of different microstructural characteristics could potentially improve transport properties of GDLs. This work proposes an approach to reconstruct heterogenous GDLs and conduct pore-scale modeling to evaluate the anisotropic transport properties. The models are reconstructed using X-ray computed tomography, stochastically reconstruction methods and morphological processing techniques, which consider different fiber diameter, GDL thickness and local porosity distribution type. Combined effects of microstructure characteristics on tortuosity, diffusivity, thermal-electrical conductivity and anisotropic ratios are investigated comprehensively. The results show that the diffusivity with fiber diameter of 7 μm is approximately 7% lower, and the conductivity is 8% higher than that of 9 μm. The anisotropic ratios of diffusivity, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity range from 1.25 to 1.65, 5 to 20, and 20 to 55, respectively. Local porosity distribution of uniform-fluctuated type, fiber diameter of 7 μm and GDL thickness of 126 μm are suggested to balance diffusivity and thermal-electrical conductivity simultaneously. The methods and results can guide microstructure design of other porous electrodes with higher performance.