Phase Change and Two Phase Flow in Cathode Porous Electrodes of Fuel Cells

The steady state transport phenomena in the cathode porous electrode of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell are investigated in a two-dimensional configuration near the outlet. The fuel cell is operated by hydrogen and humidified oxygen in a regime in which the porous cathode contains a two-phase two-component mixture of oxygen, water vapor and liquid water. Numerical results are presented for the liquid water, oxygen and temperature distributions through the cathode porous electrode. The phase change effect on the transport of reactant to the catalyst layer is found to be important.