Abstract
Liquid water in cathode catalyst layers (CLs) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) affects performance of PEMFCs. To evaluate an effect of liquid water, we developed a calculation method with Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and pore network modeling (PNM). LBM was used to calculate oxygen, proton and electron transport in a model CLs while PNM was used to obtain liquid water transport. We successfully demonstrated this novel calculation method useful to investigate liquid water behaviors and its effect on overall cell performance in the cathode catalyst layer in PEMFC.
