A Method for Spatial Quantification of Water in Microporous Layers of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells by X-ray Tomographic Microscopy

A microporous layer (MPL) is typically added to the gas diffusion of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) promote cell performance and water management. The transport mechanism through MPL is, however, not well understood due its small pores (20–500 nm). Here, we demonstrate that polychromatic X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM) can be used determine porosity spatial distribution in nanoporous materials quantitatively map liquid saturation MPLs. presented technique requires no a priori knowledge composition has field view on millimeter scale, which orders magnitude larger than conventional electron techniques for nanoscale materials. available compatible with existing operando tomography, paving way analysis MPLs during operation.