Effect of Pin-Hole on the Performance of Low Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell for Different Flow Fields and Catalyst Loadings

Abstract This study investigates the impact of membrane pinholes on the performance of PEMFCs by analyzing the results obtained using novel flow field designs, in comparison with first generation flow fields. The tests were carried out at the optimal hydrogen-to-oxygen ratio that yielded maximum power output, across three different hydrogen flow rates. The experiments indicated that a pinhole in the membrane reduces fuel cell performance across all 10 configurations studied (combinations of flow field types and catalyst loadings). Specifically, the twin-inlet twin-outlet flow field, the conventional serpentine flow field, and the 2 mm circular cavity flow field failed to deliver meaningful output in most cases when a pinhole was present. In contrast, the 6 mm (CCFF-6 mm) and 4 mm (CCFF-4 mm) circular cavity flow fields maintained substantial power output under the same conditions, with CCFF-6mm demonstrating superior performance. The Tafel slope analysis indicated that the CCFF-6 mm configuration outperformed all other designs in terms of electrochemical behavior.