Sensitivity Study of Operating Conditions and Liquid1
Water Transport Behavior in an AEMFC Aided by2
Modeling and Neutron Radiography3
Mrittunjoy Sarker
a
, Joy Marie Mora
a
, Felipe Mojica
a
, Ami C. Yang-Neyerlin
b
, Bryan4
Pivovar
b
, Daniel S. Hussey
c
, David L. Jacobson
c
, Jacob M. LaManna
c
, Po-Ya Abel5
Chuang
a,∗
6
a
Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA7
b
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO 80401, USA8
c
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA9
Abstract10
Two types of anion exchange ionomers, powder and dispersion, are studied in this work. The11
gas diffusion electrode (GDE) with the dispersion-type ionomer exhibits strong hydropho-12
bicity, thus not enabling sufficient ionic exchange during the potassium hydroxide exchange13
process, which in turn exhibits very poor performance. Hence we use GDE prepared with14
the powder-type ionomer to study the sensitivity and effect of reactant concentration and15
operating conditions on anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) performance. The16
results indicate that AEMFC performance is the most sensitive to relative humidity followed17
by hydrogen concentration. In contrast, oxygen is not a major performance limiting factor18
validated by oxygen reactant sensitivity analysis. Results from neutron imaging experiments19
demonstrate that active water transport from cathode to anode through electro-osmotic drag20
is very active, which results in flooding on the anode side, causing significant reduction of21
cell performance. The combined experimental and neutron results provide valuable insight22
into the AEMFC water management strategies to improve the stability of cell performance,23
which has a significant impact towards the development of AEMFC technology.24
Keywords: Anion exchange membrane fuel cell, Fuel cell experiments, AEMFC modeling,25
Transport resistance, Water flooding, Neutron radiography.26
∗
Corresponding author
Email address: abel.chuang@ucmerced.edu (Po-Ya Abel Chuang)
Preprint submitted to Energy Conversion and Management February 4, 2025
