Review on Design and Development of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), are a type of fuel cell being developed for transport, stationary and portable applications. PEM Fuel Cell performance depends on many factors, including the operating conditions, transport phenomena inside the cell, kinetics of the electrochemical reaction, MEA assembly and flow channel geometry. For the homogeneous distribution of the reactants all over the catalyst surface through the flow channels, flow patterns or paths machined on the Flow field plates /Bipolar Plates(in case of stack) surfaces to guide the reactants to gas diffusion layer for correct distribution. The incorrect flow distribution may affect the fuel cell stack performance. Thus, the design of more effective flow channels has received considerable attention of the researchers. In this research review numerically as well as experimental investigations of the influence of the channel cross-section is presented as a design parameter of flow channel geometry on the performance of a PEM fuel cell especially with serpentine flow field (SFF) design.