Analysis of Multiphase Transport Phenomena in PEMFCS by Incorporating Microscopic Model for Catalyst Layer Structures

The catalyst layer (CL) in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells is one of the key components regulating the overall performance of the cell. In PEM fuel cells, there are two CLs having identical composition for hydrogen oxidation (HO) and oxygen reduction (OR) reactions. There are four phases inside the CL, namely: carbon, Pt particles, ionomer and voids. In this work, a micro-model of the cathode CL has been developed mathematically using finite volume (FV) technique to investigate the transport phenomena of reactants and product species, ions and electrons by incorporating the above stated phases at the cathode side only, due to the fact that the OR reactions are the rate limiting as compared to HO reaction. The 3D CL has been reconstructed based on a regularly distributed sphere’s method with dimensions 4.1 × 4.1 × 4.1 μm³. Platinum particles combined with carbon spheres (C/Pt) are regularly placed in the domain, an ionomer layer of a given thickness is extruded from the sphere surfaces. The C/Pt, ionomer and void distribution, as well as the triple phase boundary (TPB) are analysed and discussed. A microscopic model has been developed for water generation and species transport via Knudsen diffusion through the voids and the proton transport in the ionomer has been included here to aim for the rigorousness of the work. In addition, the electrochemical reactions have been simulated on the surface of Pt particles fulfilling the TBP conditions.