Flooding of the cathode flow channel is a major hindrance in achieving maximum performance from Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) during the scaling up process. Water
accumulated between the interface region of Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) and rib of the cathode flow
field can be removed by the use of Porous Sponge Inserts ...
Flooding of the cathode flow channel is a major hindrance in achieving maximum performance from Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) during the scaling up process. Water
accumulated between the interface region of Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) and rib of the cathode flow
field can be removed by the use of Porous Sponge Inserts (PSI) on the ribs. In the present work, the
experimental investigations are carried out on PEMFC for the various reaction areas, namely 25, 50
and 100 cm2. Stoichiometry value of 2 is maintained for all experiments to avoid variations in power
density obtained due to differences in fuel utilization. The experiments include two flow fields,
namely Serpentine Flow Field (SFF) and Modified Serpentine with Staggered provisions of 4 mm
PSI (4mm x 2mm x 2mm) Flow Field (MSSFF). The peak power densities obtained on MSSFF are
0.420 W/cm2, 0.298 W/cm2 and 0.232 W/cm2 compared to SFF which yields 0.242 W/cm2, 0.213 W/cm2
and 0.171 W/cm2 for reaction areas of 25, 50 and 100 cm2 respectively. Further, the reliability of
experimental results is verified for SFF and MSSFF on 25 cm2 PEMFC by using Electrochemical
Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The use of 4 mm PSI is found to improve the performance of PEMFC
through the better water management.