Clamping Pressure and Catalyst Distribution Analyses on PEMFC Performance Improvement

The coupling effects of clamping pressure and catalyst distribution are comprehensively considered to improve proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance. Numerical models were constructed to study the performance changes and the corresponding internal states of PEMFC under different clamping pressures. Since the increased clamping pressure reduces the uniformity of current density, non-uniform designs with decreased catalyst loading under channel and increased catalyst loading under rib are proposed for performance improvement. A weighted objective function considering current density magnitude and uniformity was constructed, and the performances of different catalyst loading distributions were analyzed. Compared to the uniform distribution, the optimized distribution with a variation of −15% and 15% under channel and rib had the maximum objective function value of 17.24%. The deformation analysis of the gas diffusion layer and optimization of catalyst loading distribution based on deformation analysis provided a reference for the assembly of PEMFC and the production of MEA.