(278a) Mri Investigation of Water Distribution in an Operating Pem Fuel Cell

Presently, water transport in operating PEM fuel cells is poorly understood. While there have been many models, there is very little experimental data. Thus model verification has not occurred. In this paper, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to examine the spatial distributions of water in an operating fuel cell. The MRI was used to study both steady state and transient water production and transport in an operating proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Water distributions in the catalyst layer, the gas diffusion layer, and on the current collectors were observed and quantified. New processes are observed including viscous fingering in the cathode GDL and local flooding under the ribs of the flowfield. These results show that MRI imaging can provide unique insight into fuel cell performance.