Modeling of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with novel sulfonated polybenzimidazole membranes

•A 3D model of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell is developed.•The model is based on sulfonated polybenzimidazole membranes.•Conductivity of sulfonated polybenzimidazole membrane is validated experimentally.•Model prediction of cell performance is validated by experimental data.

In this study, a three-dimensional, steady-state, non-isothermal numerical model of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) operating with novel sulfonated polybenzimidazole (SPBI) membranes is developed. The proton conductivity of the phosphoric acid doped SPBI membranes with different degrees of sulfonation is correlated based on experimental data. The predicted conductivity of SPBI membranes and cell performance agree reasonably with published experimental data. It is shown that a better cell performance is obtained for the SPBI membrane with a higher level of phosphoric acid doping. Higher operating temperature or pressure is also beneficial for the cell performance. Electrochemical reaction rates under the ribs of the bipolar plates are larger than the values under the flow channels, indicating the importance and dominance of the charge transport over the mass transport.