Investigation of porous water transport plates used for the humidification of a membrane electrode assembly

In this study, a novel porous hydrophilic acetylene black plate (HABP), possessing water permeability and gas-blocking properties, is employed as a water transport plate with which to improve the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell under low-humidity. Porosity, tortuosity, hydrophilic pore size, hydrophilic pore fraction and wettability of the HABPs which may influence the permeated water flux, are measured by mercury intrusion, weighing and contact angle methods. By introducing nano-sized hydrophilic acetylene black (HAB) powders into the HABPs, the porosity, hydrophilic pore fraction and wettability increase, while the tortuosity and hydrophilic pore size decrease, which results in higher permeated water flux. By employing the HABP as an anode plate, the maximum power density of the cell is 194.3 mW cm−2 higher than that with a conventional solid plate. The favorable performance of the cell indicates that the HABP is a promising plate material for water transportation.