Passive water management for µfuel-cells using capillary microstructures

In this work we present a novel system for the passive water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFC) based on capillary effects in microstructures. The system removes abundant water that occurs at low temperatures at a fuel cell cathode and secures the humidity of the electrolyte membrane on higher temperatures. Liquid water is removed by hydrophilic gas supply channels with a tapered cross section as presented previously, and further transported by a system of capillary channels and a layer of nonwoven material. To prevent the membrane from running dry, a storage area in the nonwoven layer is introduced, controlled by a novel passive capillary overflow valve. The valve controls whether water is stored or finally disposed by gravity and evaporation. Experiments in a model system show that the nonwoven material is capable of removing all liquid water that can be produced by the fuel cell. A miniaturized fuel cell utilizing the novel water removal system was fabricated and experiments show that the system can stabilize the performance during changes of electrical load. Clearing the drowned miniaturized fuel cell flow field was proven and required 2 min. To make the capillary effects available for the originally hydrophobic graphite composite materials that were used to fabricate the flow fields, hydrophilic grafting based on photochemistry was applied to the material and contact angles of about 40° could be achieved and preserved for at least three months.