Suggested Citation:
Tongsh, Chasen, Siyuan Wu, Kui Jiao, Wenming Huo, Qing Du, Jae Wan Park, Jin Xuan, Huizhi Wang, Nigel P. Brandon, Michael D. Guiver (2024)

Fuel Cell Stack Redesign and Component Integration Radically Increase Power Density

The drawbacks of conventional channel-rib flow fields and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) significantly limit the mass transfer and water management capability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), impacting volumetric power density. We report a GDL-less design of electrode-flow field integration comprised of graphene-coated Ni foam and ultrathin (9.1 μm) carbon nanofiber film as an alternative to conventional channel-rib flow fields and GDLs, which substantially reduces membrane electrode assembly volume (90%), reactant transport distance (96%), and concentration impedance (88.6%), resulting in a remarkable 50% power density increase. The GDL-less design provides an effective strategy for the rational design of integrated electrode-flow field and will guide the future development of PEMFCs for their practical applications in energy conversion technologies. We estimate that the peak volumetric power density a PEMFC stack employing GDL-less design can achieve is 9.8 kW L−1, representing an increase of more than 80% compared with the state-of-the-art commercial PEMFC stack.