Water and thermal management in PEMFCs – influencing parameters and operational conditions: A Review

Abstract

Despite of huge prospects and efforts from the scientists around the world, Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is still struggling to be commercialized. Numbers of issues are present in PEMFC, having both positive and negative impact on the cell performance. Water content in the membrane as well as the presence of water in the different zones of the PEMFC for wide range of operating conditions plays major role of the cell performance. Situations like: the presence of water content in the membrane, the initial feed of water as humidified reactants, the accumulation of water in the different zones, conversion of water vapor to liquid water in the cell and water removal process can be designated as crucial aspects of water management of the cell. This review article emphasizes different issues which directly and indirectly influence water transportation and thermal management in the cells and their ultimate effects on the fuel cell performance. The dependence of different physical and geometrical properties on water and thermal management is highlighted. Moreover, different operating conditions for fuel cell are discussed based on the water and thermal management along with other aspects which are common in the present research trends of PEM fuel cells.