Electroosmotic Flow in PEM Fuel Cells with Variable Zeta Potential

Water management is critically important for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and is complicated by electroosmotic flow of water from anode to cathode through the polymer electrolyte membrane. In this work, the characteristics of electroosmotic flow in a Nafion® membrane with non-uniform zeta potential were investigated. The Poisson-Boltzmann and Navier-Stokes equations were used to model electrical double layer and the flow fields, respectively. The numerical results show the distorted electroosmotic velocity profiles resulting from the axial variation of the zeta potential.

Keywords:

electroosmotic flow , zeta potential , PEM fuel cell