1. Performance Enhancement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell through Carbon Nanofibers Grown In Situ on Carbon Paper.
- Author
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Liu, Chang and Li, Shang
- Subjects
PROTON exchange membrane fuel cells ,CARBON paper ,CARBON nanofibers ,DIFFUSION ,FUEL cells ,POLYMERIZATION - Abstract
We developed an integrated gas diffusion layer (GDL) for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells by growing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in situ on carbon paper via the electro-polymerization of polyaniline (PANI) on carbon paper followed by a subsequent carbonization treatment process. The CNF/carbon paper showed a microporous structure and a significantly increased pore volume compared to commercial carbon paper. By utilizing this CNF/carbon paper in a PEM fuel cell, it was found that the cell with CNF/carbon paper had superior performance compared to the commercial GDL at both high and low humidity conditions, and its power density was as high as 1.21 W cm
−2 at 100% relative humidity, which is 26% higher than that of a conventional gas diffusion layer (0.9 W cm−2 ). The significant performance enhancement was attributed to a higher pore volume and porosity of the CNF/carbon paper, which improved gas diffusion in the GDL. In addition, the superior performance of the cell with CNF/carbon paper at low relative humidity demonstrated that it had better water retention than the commercial GDL. This study provides a novel and facile method for the surface modification of GDLs to improve the performance of PEM fuel cells. The CNF/carbon paper with a microporous structure has suitable hydrophobicity and lower through-plane resistance, which makes it promising as an advanced substrate for GDLs in fuel cell applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2023
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