PEMFC Performance Enhancement Using a Cathode Hybrid Configuration of Metal Wire-Mesh and Cuboid Structures

This research optimized metal wire-mesh bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experimental verification. The CFD simulations showed that horizontal attachments outperformed vertical designs in pressure-drop reduction. Relative to the mesh-only case, single and dual horizontal configurations decreased manifold pressure drop by 2.14% and 7.12%, respectively, whereas single and dual vertical configurations achieved reductions of 1.83% and 5.32%. The optimal design, featuring four horizontal attachments (S5), achieved a peak power density of 871.85 mW/cm2, corresponding to a 29.2% improvement relative to the conventional serpentine bipolar plates. Electrochemical impedance measurements showed that the addition of attachments reduced ohmic resistance from 112.0 to 86.9 mΩ·cm2, and all mesh-based configurations displayed substantially lower mass transport resistance compared to the serpentine benchmark. Performance under different air stoichiometric ratios revealed remarkable versatility, with S5 sustaining a 41.9% power density increase in conditions of low air stoichiometry. Furthermore, S5 offered a 21.7% increase in voltage over traditional configurations at high current densities. The proposed mesh-attachment approach ensured uniform reactant distribution and minimized ohmic losses via improved electrical interfacial contact, substantiating mesh-integrated flow fields as superior alternatives to standard designs, particularly under demanding operational scenarios.