Impact of carbon paper structural parameters on the performance of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell cathode via lattice Boltzmann method

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) being employed in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are promising power generators producing electric power from fuel stream via porous electrodes. Structure of carbon paper gas diffusion layers (GDLs) applying in the porous electrodes can greatly affect the PEFC performance, especially at the cathode side where electrochemical reaction is more sluggish. To discover the role of carbon paper GDL structure on the mass transfer properties, different cathode electrodes with dissimilar structural parameters are simulated via lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). 3D contours of oxygen and water vapor concentration through the GDL as well as the 2D contours of current density on the catalyst layer are illustrated and examined. The results indicate that the carbon fiber diameter has a negligible impact on the current density while the impact of carbon paper thickness and porosity is significant. In fact, increasing of carbon paper thickness or porosity leads to lack of cell performance.