In this study, the MPLs with both irregular micro (∼5 μm) and spherical nano (30–50 nm) titanium particles are developed on novel thin/tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) and are investigated comprehensively both in-situ and ex-situ for the first time. Microporous layers (MPLs), which have been widely used in fuel cells for better catalyst access and product/reactant removal, have limited investigations in PEMECs due to harsh environments and carbon corrosion.
Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) have been considered one of the most promising devices for hydrogen generation and energy storage from water splitting, especially when coupled with sustainable energy resources.
The results indicate the feasibility of stacking the in-plane transport enhancement layer with large pore sizes onto a small pore TT-LGDLs/PTLs for high efficiency and low cost PEMEC practical applications. The total ohmic resistance and mass transport resistance can be reduced by about 23% and 41%, respectively, with an ∼830 μm pore TT-LGDL/PTL stacking on a ∼100 μm pore TT-LGDL/PTL. The results of this research reveal that the dual-layer LGDL/PTL structure exhibits smaller ohmic resistance and mass transport resistance, and therefore improve the PEMEC performance, without obvious changes in kinetic losses. The in-plane transport enhancement layer for TT-LGDLs/PTLs are proposed to develop a dual-layer LGDL/PTL structure for improving the mass diffusion and the PEMEC performance. The coverage of the pores can lead to very high transport resistance, which may reduce the number of active oxygen evolution reaction sites, and therefore lower down the PEMEC performance. However, in this case, mass diffusion issues are brought in when some of the pores are covered by the flow field lands or shoulders. For achieving better PEMEC performance, TT-LGDLs with smaller pore size are desired. Thin/tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) or porous transport layers (TT-PTLs), have exhibited superior multifunctional performance in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), which can be attributed to their unique structures, such as planar surface, straight-through pores, thin thickness, etc.
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