Sensitivity Analysis of Some Key Gas Diffusion Layer Parameters in PEM Fuel Cells

The gas diffusion layer(GDL) plays a very important role in the overall functioning of PEM Fuel Cells. Through the GDL, reactant gas is delivered to the catalyst layer and product water is removed from the catalyst layer. It is known from different experiments and numerical studies that the GDL has highly anisotropic property. In this study, a non-isothermal two dimensional fuel cell model is developed taking into account the anisotropic nature of the GDL by introducing the in-plane and through-plane characteristics for permeability, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. The statistical sensitivity analysis is then performed to determine the most influential parameter which affects the performance of fuel cell. The governing equations are solved using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics. The standard analysis of variance (ANOVA) method is used to do the sensitivity analysis. It shows that the porosity and through-plane permeability are the most influential GDL parameters on the performance of fuel cells.