Performance improvement of wave-like PEMFC stack with compound membrane electrode assembly

Abstract

The novel architecture of wave-like proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack developed in our previous work achieved peak volumetric power density and specific power of 2,715.9 W L-1 and 2,157.9 W kg -1, respectively. However, there still existed perforated bipolar plates and the carbon fiber gas diffusion layer (GDL) was easy to cause damage during the fabrication process of undulate membrane electrode assembles (MEAs). In the present study, sintered stainless steel fiber felt (SSSFF) was employed to work as metallic GDL (MGDL) and bipolar plates simultaneously. Compound membrane electrode assembles (CMEAs) with serpentine and interdigitated flow channels were designed and fabricated using stamping process. A single cell with CMEA was assembled in house and the output performance was evaluated systemically. The results indicated that the peak volumetric power density and specific power of wave-like PEMFC single with CMEA are 5,764.0 W L-1 and 4,693.5 W kg-1 respectively. This study achieved a significant performance improvement due to the concept of CMEA and may propose a possible means to meet the DOE's 2020 technical target that volumetric power density is 2,500 W L-1 and specific power is 2,000 W kg-1 for stack. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.