DataVXACS Applied Materials & InterfacesPaper
journal article·2025-12-23

Enhancing Synergistic Water–Gas Management in PEMFCs Using Architected Microporous Layers with Pore-Size Gradients

Qin He, Peiyuan Shao, Lixiao Shen, Miao Ma, Zigang Zhao, Wen Ye, Huatao Wang, Yunlong Zhang, Lei Zhao, Zhenbo Wang

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
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Abstract

Microporous layers (MPLs) play a pivotal role in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) by regulating water management and reactant transport. However, conventional MPLs with single-sized pores lack the structural versatility to simultaneously meet the requirements for efficient gas transport and water removal, which severely limits the performance improvement of PEMFCs. This study fabricates an MPL with a graded pore structure through solvent-controlled differentiation and a stepwise coating–sintering process, which synergistically enhances capillary-driven gas supply and liquid water removal. Multiphysics simulations confirm that the gradient structure improves water drainage and gas diffusion, and this improvement is reflected in the superior performance of the graded MPL compared with conventional single-layer structures under varying backpressure conditions. The MPL with a graded pore structure exhibits the highest output performance of 1860 mW cm –2 under hydrogen/air operation at a high relative humidity of 100%, representing an improvement of approximately 36.8% over the commercial MPL, and still delivers a 10.4% enhancement under 75% relative humidity. The notable performance gains achieved underscore the practical potential of the fabrication method, while our findings establish critical structure–transport correlations for MPL optimization in advanced PEMFCs.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

Ceramics & glasses

OpenAlex topics: Fuel Cells and Related Materials · Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies · Advancements in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

State Key Laboratory of Space Power-Sources, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage

Harbin Institute of Technology

Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Advance Technology of Ceramics, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering

Shenzhen University

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, 2 West Wenhua Road, Weihai 264209, P. R. China

Funding

Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province · China Postdoctoral Science Foundation · Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province · Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program · Key Technology Research and Development Program of Shandong Province · Department of Education, Heilongjiang Province

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