Work

Investigation of heat and mass transfer properties of the embedded metal bipolar plate proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: To address the lack of structural innovation and low volumetric energy density in PEMFC bipolar plates (BPs), this study proposes a novel embedded metal BP (EMBP) integrated with an ESECFF cooling structure. We systematically compared EMBP with traditional metal BPs (TMBPs) via system-level coupling analysis, focusing on temperature uniformity, mass transfer, and cell performance. Results show EMBP outperforms TMBP in energy density, heat transfer and reaction efficiency, resolving temperature concentration. Case 1 (small O 2 channel + embedded H 2 –O 2 channels) achieves a 5.74% higher current density than Case 2 (large O 2 channel). The EMBP channel size (O 2 : 0.25 × 0.25 mm; H 2 : 0.45 × 0.25 mm) maximizes energy density (5.78% and 17.46% higher than identical literature-reported TMBPs), balancing process feasibility. This work provides theoretical and design support for high-performance PEMFC engineering, with future efforts on full-plate manufacturing and experimental verification.

Source: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.153909