Measurement of relative permeability of fuel cell diffusion media

Hussaini, I.S.; Wang, C.Y.

Measurement of relative permeability of fuel cell diffusion media

Type

Article

Authors

Hussaini, I.S.
Wang, C.Y.

Date

2010-06

Abstract

Gas diffusion layer (GDL) in PEM fuel cells plays a pivotal role in water management. Modeling of liquid water transport through the GDL relies on knowledge of relative permeability functions in the in-plane and through-plane directions. In the present work, air and water relative permeabilities are experimentally determined as functions of saturation for typical GDL materials such as Toray-060, -090, -120 carbon paper and E-Tek carbon cloth materials in their plain, untreated forms. Saturation is measured using an ex situ gravimetric method. Absolute and relative permeability functions in the two directions of interest are presented and new correlations for in-plane relative permeability of water and air are established. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Hussaini IS, Wang CY (2010) Measurement of relative permeability of fuel cell diffusion media. Journal of Power Sources 195: 3830–3840. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.12.105.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this work from ECEC industrial sponsor is gratefully acknowledged. I.S.H. also acknowledges King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia for a fellowship award.