Structural optimization of fiber porous self-humidifying flow field plates applied to proton exchange membrane fuel cells

In existing fuel cell flow field design, porous flow fields have shown to have excellent self-humidifying capability due to its highly controllable pore space, capillary pumping ability, and certain structural flexibility. However, the uniformly distributed structure is difficult to adapt to the complex water-gas distribution inside the fuel cell. Therefore, this paper designs an optimized structure based on the pre-developed fiber porous flow field. Experimental results show that, compared with the original fuel cell, the peak power density of the optimized fiber porous self-humidifying flow field is increased by 15.21%, and the average output current of long-term constant voltage (0.4 V) is increased by 3.5%. It is also found that the temperature rises under long-time operation (45 degrees C-56 degrees C) will further enhance the output power.