Probing water distribution in compressed fuel-cell gas-diffusion layers using X-ray computed tomography

Click on the DOI link to access the article (may not be free).X-ray computed tomography was used to investigate geometrical land and channel effects on spatial liquid-water distribution in gas-diffusion layers (GDLs) of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells under different levels of compression. At low compression, a uniform liquid-water front was observed due to water redistribution and uniform porosity; however, at high compression, the water predominantly advanced at locations under the channel for higher liquid pressures. At low compression, no apparent correlation between the spatial liquid water and porosity distributions was observed, whereas at high compression, a strong correlation was shown, indicating a potential for smart GDL architecture design with modulated porosityThis work was funded by the Assistant Secretary for EERE, Fuel Cell Technologies Office, U.S. DOE and made use of facilities at the ALS, supported by the Office of Science, BES under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231