Multi-scale simulation of single-phase multi-component transport in the cathode gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte fuel celltalized

A feasibility study into the development and application of a single-phase multi-component (SPMC) lattice Boltzmann (LB) model to simulate the movement of a three-species gas through the cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) has been reported in this paper. The porous geometry of the GDL is captured and digitally reconstructed for the numerical model using X-ray computed micro-tomography. The boundary conditions at the channel and catalyst layer interfaces for the SPMC-LB simulations including species partial pressures and through-plane flow rates are obtained using a previously-developed and validated electrochemical model of the complete multi-layer PEFC, which is based on the general transport equation (GTE). The results reveal that the SPMC-LB model has the capability to precisely detail the distribution of multi-species gas components through the heterogeneous porous structure of the GDL.