Digital Volume Imaging of the PEFC Gas Diffusion Layer

Abstract

The gas diffusion layer (GDL) plays a key role in the overall performance/durability of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). Of profound importance, especially in the context of water management and flooding phenomena, is the influence of the underlying pore morphology and wetting characteristics of the GDL microstructure. In this article, we present the digital volumetric imaging (DVI) technique in order to generate the 3-D carbon paper GDL microstructure. The internal pore structure and the local microstructural variations in terms of fiber alignment and fiber/binder distributions are investigated using the several 3-D thin sections of the sample obtained from DVI.