Modeling of local mass transport in cathode catalyst layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Catalyst partially covered by ionomer

An in-depth understanding of the local mass transport process is essential for precisely regulating the catalyst layer structure in fuel cells. The ionomer on the Pt surface in the catalyst plays a crucial role in the local transport of oxygen and protons. While most models assume that Pt is completely covered by ionomer, experiments have indicated that Pt is partially covered by ionomer in some cause. In this paper, an improved local mass transport model is proposed to investigate the effect of ionomer coverage on internal mass transport process and fuel cell performance. The results show that the current density first increases and then decreases as the ionomer coverage rises from 10% to 90% under 0.6 V. The optimal performance is achieved with a coverage of 40%. Oxygen is more easily transported in water, while ionomer is a better proton conductor. Variations in ionomer coverage lead to different distances for oxygen and proton transfer, which have an important effect on reactant concentration. Furthermore, further study reveals that the current density is greatest at the interface between water and ionomer. Increasing the interface can effectively reduce the comprehensive transport distance of reactants in ionomer and water to improve performance, which is more pronounced than increasing the oxygen transfer coefficient in the ionomer. Overall, this study provides new ideas for the design of high-performance catalyst layers.