Enablers to enhance area specific power density is one of the important area to reduce the fuel cell cost. Water management in the electrode is dominant factor for the fuel cell performance at higher current density region. Novel diagnostic methodology and simulation can aid characterization of electrodes, 1. STXM proves to be a powerful technique for characterizing the composition and structure of fuel cell catalyst layers. 2. Soft x-ray microscopy is a potential technique to visualize water in catalyst layer. However, the ionomer damage by x-ray beam needs to be further mitigated. 3. Oxygen sensitive fluorescent dye can visualize oxygen mapping at the boundary between GDL surface and gas flowfield. 4. The porous structure of MPL/GDL is constructed by the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and transport of species (water, gas and heat) are calculated. The integration of LBM into a macro-scale performance model is ongoing. In-situ visualization of water and oxygen as well as the real-time structural change in operating cells are required further electrode characterization.
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