Three-dimensional observation of water distribution in PEFC by neutron CT

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) consists of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), gas diffusion layers (GDL), hydrogen and oxygen supply channels. At the anode, protons and electrons are generated, while at the cathode the protons and electrons combine to form water. The condensed water may affect the fuel cell performance. In order to clarify the effect of water distribution on the PEFC performance, three-dimensional water distribution in the PEFC was visualized by using a neutron radiography facility at JRR-3 in JAEA. For observing the detailed water distribution, a small sized PEFC was designed. Size of the gas channel is 1 mm width and 0.5 mm depth. Thickness of the MEA and the GDL are about 50 and 200 μm. The electrode area is 0.35x3.5 cm2. The PEFC was set on an automatic rotating stage, and a picture was taken every 2.25 deg. by using a cooled CCD camera with grey scale of 16 bit. The exposure time was set at 15 s. Using the 80 pictures which correspond to 180 deg., a computed tomography (CT) was carried out. In order to observe water distribution with high spatial resolution, the LiF scintillator with a thickness of 50 μm was used. From the water distributions parallel and perpendicular to the MEA, existence of water around O-ring can be confirmed. However, the detailed distribution in the PEFC is difficult to obtain from the two-dimensional pictures. On the other hand, CT pictures make possible to obtain the three-dimensional water distribution. In this study, the spatial resolution of 76.5 μm was achieved, and existence of water in the PEFC could be confirmed.