Accelerated Durability Testing and Partition Analysis of Gas Diffusion Layer for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

In this paper, the durability of a gas diffusion layer was investigated using potentiostatic methods. The gas diffusion layer was successfully isolated after durability testing, and its degradation at different locations was characterized by the limiting-current method, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurement. The results demonstrate that the most substantial degradation of the gas diffusion layer occurs at the air inlet as evidenced by the reduction in water discharge ability, a large increase in oxygen transmission resistance, a decrease in hydrophobicity, and a reduction in gas diffusion layer thickness.