Modeling Water Management and Carbon-Dioxide Contamination Effects in Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Cost and durability of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) remain the major obstacles to their commercialization. Optimizing these devices for high current density operation with low catalyst loading can reduce their cost. Mathematical modeling can provide pathways for improving PEFC performance by illustrating the complex interplay of reactant and water transport, electrochemical performance, and heat generation. In this work, we develop a "1+2D" model, in which a 2D fuel-cell sandwich model is successively stepped along a channel to simulate downstream effects without the computational cost associated with 3D models. We use this model to address two key challenges in the operation of anion-exchange membrane fuel cells: water management and carbon-dioxide contamination from ambient air.