Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers and Membrane Reactors
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1457519
This article is part of the Research Topic From Fundamental Science to Economic Success – Selected Papers Presented at the World Fuel Cell Conference 2023 View all 3 articles

Thermal stability and microstructure of fluorine-free hydrophobic coatings of gas diffusion layers for fuel cell applications

Provisionally accepted
Florian Tritscher Florian Tritscher 1*Alexander Pranter Alexander Pranter 2Fabio Blaschke Fabio Blaschke 1Werner Napetschnig Werner Napetschnig 2Maximilian Fuchs Maximilian Fuchs 2Eduardo Machado-Charry Eduardo Machado-Charry 2Viktor Hacker Viktor Hacker 1Merit Bodner Merit Bodner 1
  • 1 Institute for Chemical Process Engineering and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical and Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Styria, Austria
  • 2 Institute of Solid State Physics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Geodesy, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Styria, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is used as commercial hydrophobic treatment for gas diffusion layers (GDL) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells. This commercial hydrophobic treatment can reduce the electrical conductivity of GDLs and is facing an uncertain future due to the pending restriction of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Previously, we proposed surfactant doped polyaniline (PANI) coatings as a fluorine-free alternative hydrophobic treatment. Due to their anti-corrosion properties as well as the electrical conductivity, these coatings offer additional benefits for the GDL compared to PTFE. Prior work demonstrated improved maximum power of a low temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell (LT-PEFC) using the PANI coated GDL compared to the commercial PTFE treated reference. Based on these findings, additional investigations are needed to optimize the coating and assess possible areas of applications. With this study, we propose the use of the coating in high temperature PEFCs due to its thermal stability determined via thermogravimetric analysis of polyaniline doped with different types of surfactants. A main focus of this work is the investigation of the uniformity and overall porosity of the polyaniline coatings on GDLs via µCT supported by deep learning. This analysis is complemented with fluid dynamics simulations to determine the tortuosity and the gas flow through the GDL. In the future, this approach could enable the optimization of the fluorine-free hydrophobic coatings in combination with the different layers of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) such as the GDL and the catalyst layer to prevent mass transport limitations.

    Keywords: Polymer electrolyte fuel cell, Gas diffusion layer, coatings, Fluorine-free, micro computed tomography, Deep learning model, Porosity, Pore network modelling

    Received: 30 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tritscher, Pranter, Blaschke, Napetschnig, Fuchs, Machado-Charry, Hacker and Bodner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Florian Tritscher, Institute for Chemical Process Engineering and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical and Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, 8010, Styria, Austria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.