We have established methods to evaluate key properties that are needed to commercialize polyelectrolyte membranes for fuel cell electric vehicles such as water diffusion, gas permeability, and mechanical strength. These methods are based on coarse-graining models. For calculating water diffusion and gas permeability through the membranes, the dissipative particle dynamics–Monte Carlo approach w...

The structure of Nafion, the polymer electrolyte membrane used in some fuel cells, has been extensively debated over recent decades. Now, a newly proposed model reveals the nanoscale arrangement that could explain the excellent transport properties of the material. Transport is a major source of pollution in cities. As a result, the development of cars and buses which generate low or negligible...

The trade-offs among dynamic response, efficiency, and robustness to external factors are fundamental to the optimization of hardware and controls for fuel cell systems. No previously published model of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has the capability to simultaneously provide dynamic modeling capabilities, a clear representation of physical configurations, adjustable fidelit...

Under DSTO’s Strategic Research Initiative on Signatures, Materials, and Energy, a project entitled “Hybrid-Propulsion and Power-Management Technologies for Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)” is underway. Fuel cells have been identified as having the potential to substantially increase the range and endurance of small, electrically-powered fixed-wing aircraft. Herein described are experi...

We have developed a highly flexible, ultra-light and thin polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell that can be used as a portable power source for flexible electronics. To achieve such flexibility and ultra-lightness, we fabricated a thin flow-field plate using a thermal imprinting process and combined it with a laser-machined metal current collector. The air-breathing fuel cell, with a thickness...

Recently mesoporous materials have drawn great attention in fuel cell related applications, such as preparation of polymer electrolyte membranes and catalysts, hydrogen storage and purification. In this mini-review, we focus on recent developments in mesoporous electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, including metallic and metal-free catalysts for use as either anode or ca...

We have achieved performance enhancement of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) though crack generation on its electrodes. It is the first attempt to enhance the performance of PEMFC by using cracks which are generally considered as defects. The pre-defined, cracked electrode was generated by stretching a catalyst-coated Nafion membrane. With the strain-stress property of the membran...

Fuel cells represent a clean alternative to current technologies for utilizing hydrocarbon fuel resources. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have acquired due importance as they are best suited for applications where a quick start up is required such as in automobiles. The prime requirements of fuel cell membranes are high proton conductivity, low methanol/water permeability, goo...

Maximum Power Point (MPP) tracker has an important role in the performance of fuel cell (FC) systems improvement. Tow parameters which have effect on the Fuel cell output power are temperature and membrane water. So contents make the MPP change by with variations in each parameter. In this paper, a new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell is pr...

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with both gas distribution flow channels and Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) is developed. A set of conservation equation is numerically solved by developing a CFD code based on the finite volume technique and SIMPLE algorithm. In this research, some parameters like oxygen consumption, water...