Influence of Catalyst Layer and Gas Diffusion Layer Porosity in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance

The current produced by the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cell (PEMFC) is dependent on the diffusion of the reactants through the cell components. In previous studies, the Gas Diffusion Layers (GDL) and catalyst porosities are considered as constant parameters. In this study, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model in ANSYS FLUENT is used to simulate the fuel cell. Taguchi based optimization is done on the porosities of the GDL and catalyst layers in a single cell, and the performance of the cell is compared with a cell with uniform porosity at all the porous layers. It is found that the performance of the cell is enhanced by 12.5% by optimizing the porosities. Moreover, it is observed that the current density of a PEMFC intensely depends on the GDL porosity than the porosity of catalyst layers. Optimized porosity of the cell improves the membrane water content and ultimately results in better current density of the cell.