title: Effects of porous properties on cold-start behavior of polymer electrolyte fuel cells from sub-zero to normal operating temperatures.
abstract: In this investigation, a parametric study was performed using the transient cold-start model presented in our previous paper, in which the ice melting process and additional constitutive relations were newly included for transient cold-start simulations of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) from a sub-zero temperature (-20°C) to a normal operating temperature (80°C). The focus is placed on exploring the transient cold-start behavior of a PEFC for different porous properties of the catalyst layer (CL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL). This work elucidates the detailed effects of these properties on key cold-start phenomena such as ice freezing/melting and membrane hydration/dehydration processes. In particular, the simulation results highlight that designing a cathode CL with a high ionomer fraction helps to retard the rate of ice growth whereas a high ionomer fraction in the anode CL is not effective to mitigate the anode dry-out and membrane dehydration issues during PEFC cold-start.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-Gu Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Geonhui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gwak
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-Gu Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Nam-Gu Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyunchul
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ju