Enhancing hydrothermal durability of gas diffusion layer by elevated temperature treatment technique for proton exchange membrane fuel cell application

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Authors

Su, Huaneng
Wu, Tianen
Liu, Huiyuan
Zhang, Weiqi
Xu, Qian
Ren, Jianwei

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

Liquid water flooding is one of the major challenges in the high current density operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Optimizing microstructure and properties of gas diffusion layer (GDL), as an essential diffusion medium in PEMFCs, is considered as a promising approach to ensure the long-term stable operation of PEMFCs at high current densities. Herein, we report a simple elevated temperature treatment technique to enhance the hydrothermal durability and water removal capacity of GDLs. Although elevating the heat-treatment temperature from 330 °C (most commonly used) to 430 °C has no obvious impact on the GDLs’ surface hydrophobicity, the GDL treated at 430 °C exhibits excellent hydrothermal stability and water removal capacity due to the increased dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). In PEMFC, the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) containing the elevated-temperature-treated GDL could maintain high performance at high current densities and high humidity conditions. 200 h steady state test at high current densities and high humidity conditions manifests that the MEA with elevated-temperature-treated GDL is more stable and has better water removal capacity than the MEA with normal-temperature-treated GDL.

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DATA AVAILABILITY : The authors are unable or have chosen not to specify which data has been used.

Keywords

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), Gas diffusion layer (GDL), Water removal, Hydrothermal durability, Elevated temperature treatment, SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG-07:Affordable and clean energy
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Citation

Su, H., Wu, T., Liu, H. et al. 2025, 'Enhancing hydrothermal durability of gas diffusion layer by elevated temperature treatment technique for proton exchange membrane fuel cell application', Journal of Power Sources, vol. 631, art. 236192, pp. 1-7, doi : 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2025.236192.