Simulation of transport phenomena and electrochemical reaction in the PEMFC catalyst layer using a dual network coupled agglomerate model

Zhang W, Bück A, He Z, Tsotsas E, Jiang Z (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Energy Conversion and Management Elsevier

Book Volume: 345

Article Number: 120406

DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120406

Abstract

To enhance cell performance and reduce cell costs, it is crucial to understand how catalyst layer (CL) parameters impact transport phenomena and electrochemical reactions within it. This study established a 3D, non-isothermal dual network model (DNM) of the CL, which couples the agglomerate model and considers the transport of gas, charge, heat, and electrochemical reaction rates. The effects of agglomerate radius Ragg, the ratio of electrolyte volume fraction to catalyst volume fraction ϵI/C, the mass fraction of platinum in the carbon loaded platinum catalyst wtPt/C, and the distribution of platinum loading mPt and wtPt/C along the thickness direction of the CL on cell performance were investigated. The results show that reducing Ragg in the range of 1.8 to 0.6μm improves cell performance and durability. The cell exhibits better performance when the catalyst volume fraction in CL ϵC is around 0.3 and the ϵI/C ratio is 1.2. The suitable range of wtPt/C varies from 0.1 to 0.4 as mPt increases from 0.2 to 0.8 mg/cm2. The primary heat source within the CL is overpotential heat. Distributing mPt reasonably along the thickness direction of the CL can increase cell performance by at least 42.6% and 36.7%, respectively, when BCL/GDL is 0.6 and 0.9. Compared to the mPt gradient, the porosity gradient has a greater impact on enhancing cell performance, and the combined effect exceeds the linear sum of their individual contributions. Under the appropriate wtPt/C conditions, the gradient distribution has no significant effect on improving cell performance. The conclusions are important for guiding the design of catalyst layers in engineering.

Authors with CRIS profile

Andreas Bück Professur für Partikeltechnik

Involved external institutions

Jiangsu University / 江苏大学 CN China (CN) Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Zhang, W., Bück, A., He, Z., Tsotsas, E., & Jiang, Z. (2025). Simulation of transport phenomena and electrochemical reaction in the PEMFC catalyst layer using a dual network coupled agglomerate model. Energy Conversion and Management, 345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120406

MLA:

Zhang, Wei, et al. "Simulation of transport phenomena and electrochemical reaction in the PEMFC catalyst layer using a dual network coupled agglomerate model." Energy Conversion and Management 345 (2025).

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